INHALATION, 
—* OR *— 
HOW TO CURE 
Consumption, 
t 
ASTHMA, AND CATARRH. 
N. B. WOLFE, M. D., 
CINCIXJfATI. INHALATION: 
OR, 
HOW TO CURE 
Catarrh, Asthma, and Consumption. 
BY 
N. B. WOLFE, M. D. 
“DUM SPIRO, SPERO." 
CINCINNATI, O.: 
PUBLISHED BV THE AUTHOR. 
1875. Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, 
BY N. B. WOLFE, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. HOW TO CURE 
Catarrh, Asthma, and Consumpiton. 
C^hptei4 I. 
CATARRH HOW IT AFFECTS THE ORGANS OF RESPIRATION 
MUCOUS MEMBRANE AIR-CELLS. 
’HERE are but few persons of adult age, who 
have not had more or less experience with 
[SI |l|f Catarrh, either in the head, throat, or lungs. 
•/ In its mildest form, it appears as a cold, 
simply inflaming the membrane of the nose, uvula, tonsil 
glands, and throat. But in the severer forms of the dis- 
ease, it assumes a more malignant character, and assails 
with fell purpose the bones and cartilages of the nose, rots 
off the uvula, ulcerates the tonsils, destroys the larynx, and 
insidiously fights its way along the trachea and bronchial 
tubes into the very citadel of life itself, the cellular 
structure of the lungs. View it as we may, Catarrh can 
not but be regarded as an implacable foe to comfort, 
health, and life. 
I propose, in the following pages, to show how Catarrh 
affects the organs of respiration, and point out the dan- 
ger of its character if neglected or improperly treated; 4 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
also to indicate the most successful method for arresting 
its progress and repairing its consequences. 
As already stated, the organs of respiration consist 
of the nose, throat, and lungs. For all practical purposes, 
these may be considered as but one organ, as they are all 
endowed with a common function; namely, to prepare 
and transmit the air we breathe into the vital currents 
for life-sustaining purposes. 
The interior of their structure, from the nose to the 
remotest air-cell in the lungs, is covered with a contin- 
uous membrane, as the skin infolds the body. This 
membrane, like the skin, is perforated or thickly covered 
with hair-like tubular pores, through which constantly 
exudes a bland mucous secretion, which imparts to the 
air we breathe moisture and warmth, without which 
properties it would be unfit for respiration. 
When inflammation attacks this membrane, as it does 
in Catarrh, the follicles or pores become obstructed, and 
the secretions more or less arrested. When this takes 
place, a general derangement of the system, with fever- 
ish symptoms, is the consequence; and, if the disorder is 
not removed, the destruction of the membrane, in part 
or whole, is imminent. 
It will thus be seen, when inflammation attacks any 
part of this lining membrane of the air-passages, whether 
in the nose, throat, or lungs, it imperils the integrity of the 
whole pulmonary structure, and menaces life itself. We 
can not, therefore, exercise too much prudence in guard- 
ing it from disease; nor can we be too earnest in our 
efforts to remove it, when fixed upon any part of the 
channel through which the vital currents flow. 
That the reader may have a better understanding of 
the organs of respiration, from the top of the windpipe 
to the air-cells in the lungs, the following illustration of ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
5 
their anatomy will show the relation each sustains to 
the other. 
It is estimated each lung contains nearly two .mill- 
ions of air-cells, and that, if the walls of these cells were 
flattened upon a common plane, they would cover an 
area of twenty thousand square feet. This is quite an 
extensive surface to be fed by every breath we draw. 
If the air we breathe is impure, the effect will be 
promptly registered upon our health and feelings. If it 
is charged with a noxious gas or poison, we languish 
and die. Large por- 
tions of this membrane 
are liable to be de- 
stroyed by ulceration; 
but this can be ar- 
rested by proper liv- 
ing, and fanning the 
parts persistently with 
medicated air. On this 
principle is founded a 
system of treatment for 
all diseases of the re- 
spiratory organs, which 
has been attended with more success than any other 
known to modern times. A brief historical notice of 
this mode of treatment for pulmonary disease, will be 
considered in the next chapter. 6 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
Clihptef II. 
THE OLD MASTERS TREAT CONSUMPTION BY FUMIGATION 
MODERN PHYSICIANS BY INHALATION CITIZEN BALLARD 
AND CHLORINE GAS DIFFERENT INHALERS IGNORANCE 
OF PHYSICIANS. 
I* treatment for diseases of the respiratory 
a ? organs by inhaling the remedies in a vaporous 
jH| condition, has an antiquity as remote as any 
•• ;4 recorded practice in the literature of medicine. 
No man, therefore, especially of modern times, can claim 
a monopoly of its honors, nor an exclusive right to 
advocate its principles. 
Among the first of whom we have any well-authen- 
ticated statement, to practice medicated inhalation, was 
Hippocrates. The old Greek recommended, for pneumonia, 
‘ ‘ the injection of the lungs with fumigations of hyssop, ci/icia, 
sulphur, and asphalt, to bring away phlegmHis methods 
for administering fumigations were crude enough; but this 
did not prevent him recognizing the practice as rational, 
and giving- it indorsement. He had no skilled artists to 
aid him by inventions; so he turned to Nature, and taught 
her everlasting principles. He was not slow to under- 
stand that, when disease attacked any part of the respir- 
atory system, it could only be subdued by inhaling the 
remedy. 
Among the Problems of Aristotle, we find the fol- 
lowing in reference to consumption. He says, “Is it ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
7 
because it makes the breath corrupt and offensive, that 
those who breathe it acquire the same malady1?” In 
this problem is recognized two great principles germane 
to our subject, namely: first, the communicability of con- 
sumption; and, second, that it may be acquired by in- 
haling vitiated air. 
Dioscorides, an illustrious scholar and empiric, living in 
the early part of the Christian era, recommended, for 
coughs of long standing, 11 fumigations" of colt’s-foot 
leaves, native sulphur, sweet calamus, dry squills, water- 
cresses, oil of cedar, and fennel-seeds, to be carried into 
the mouth through a hollow reed inserted in the bottom 
of a vessel. 
Another empiric, Aurelianus, writes of the treatment 
of Phthoe as follows: “Some have exhibited fumigations 
arising from the burning of hyssop, thyme, origanum, 
sulphur, sandarac, aloes, and styrax; ordering the mouth 
to be opened, and a swallowing effort made to devour 
the vapor. If the voice is feeble, feed slops, and 
gargle with warm sweet-oil, decoction of grapes, pine- 
nuts, fat figs, liquorice-leaves, and barley-water.” 
Aritious, a disciple of Thomison, writes'floridly on the 
subject of consumption; and, though he makes no spe- 
cific mention of inhaling vapors, he recommends sea- 
voyages ; for, says he, ‘ ‘ Breathing the salt air appears to 
dry up the ulcers in the lungs.” 
Avicenna, a follower of Galen, treated asthma with 
preparations of myrrh, spikenard, cassia, saffron, patwort, 
and styrax, in the form of boluses, used in fumigation, 
and inhaled by means of a tube or syphon. 
Both Celsus and Pliny occupy prominent positions in 
the literature of medicine. Speaking of Consumption, 
Celsus traced its origin to the head, whence it descends 
to the lungs, attended with cough, fever, and night- 8 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
sweats; and, for treating it, recommended fumigation of 
many substances—among others, arsenic—to be breathed 
in the lungs. He, with Pliny, praised the resinous woods 
for their healing odors, which, he says, “are more benefi- 
cial to the consumptive than a voyage to Egypt, or a 
course of milk in the mountains.” 
Among all writers in medical science, in ancient or 
modern times, there is none around whose name so many 
intellectual splendors cluster as that of Galen. His fame 
has outlived the mutations of centuries. Nature found 
him a fitting instrument to teach her grandest truths. 
This great physician treated Catarrh and ulcers in the 
lungs by inhaling the smoke of arsenic and burnt sponge. 
Excepting with Sebastian Paparella, a follower and 
commentator of Galen, who recommended fumigated air 
for lung disease, the practice of using inhaled remedies 
attained but little eminence until the beginning of the 
present century; though its worth is acknowledged in 
the writings of Battallust, Kunrath, Duval, Virginias, 
Helmont, Schneider, Gractz, Chandler, Sir George Baker, 
and other distinguished teachers in medical science. 
Early in this century, public attention was again at- 
tracted to this mode of treating pulmonary disease, and 
great interest existed in its development and success. 
Dr. Beddoes began the admistration of volatile medicines 
in a condition of vapor, from a bladder. 
Some time afterward, a plain business man, with good 
sense and observation, engaged in making common salt, 
near Paris, in France, noticed the fact that the men he 
had employed about the works were all exempt from 
pulmonary disease; and also that several persons who 
came to work in his establishment, in advanced stages of 
Consumption, rapidly regained their health and bodily 
strength. This information Citizen Ballard, in his plain ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
9 
but earnest manner, communicated to the “College of 
Surgeons and Physicians of Paris,” and ascribed the im- 
portant facts he had observed to the inhalation of chlorine 
gas, with which the atmosphere they breathed was con- 
stantly charged. 
The medical profession belittled this discovery; but 
the people talked about it, and recognized its value. 
Soon after, Dr. Mudge, of London, came to the assist- 
ance of Citizen Ballard, and not only advocated inhalation 
as a system of treat- 
ment for lung disease, 
but proclaimed the 
fact that it was the 
only way by which the 
lungs could be med- 
icated and pulmonary 
consumption cured. 
He employed several 
contrivances for in- 
haling vapors, among which was the one shown in the 
above illustration. 
In this he used medicine and hot water, the vapors 
of which were sucked into the lungs. It was soon dis- 
covered hot vapors enfeebled the pitlmonary structure, and 
broke down its organic power. The doctor was not long in 
discarding this tea-pot arrangement, as not only worthless 
to the pulmonary invalid, but absolutely injurious. 
After his death, Professor Broussais experimented 
with inhalation in the Charity Hospital of Paris; but at 
the time the air in the wards was so impure that, after 
severe surgical operations, the mortality was three times 
as great as in the London hospital. So the sick were 
literally poisoned with mephitic gases while these experiments 
were being conducted. HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
In 1845, Professor Elliotson, of London, was placed at 
the head of the “Brompton Hospital,” where he system- 
atically introduced medicated inhalations in the treatment 
of disease of the respiratory organs. The results he 
makes known in tabulated reports, in which, for the first 
time in the literature of medicine, Consumption is offi- 
cially recognized as a curable malady in every stage of 
its development. 
Following in the track of Elliotson, Sir Charles Scud- 
imore published a work, in 1848, in which he earnestly 
calls upon the medical profession to adopt inhalations of 
medicated vapors in the treatment of pulmonary disease. 
In this year, my attention became engaged in inhala- 
tion, through suffering from Asthma. After reading all 
accessible literature on the subject, the error into 
which most had fallen seemed to me, was in the 
manner of preparing medicines for inhaling purposes. 
The medicines inhaled were reduced to vapor either 
in a condition of torrid heat, or boiling water; and, as a 
general thing, did more harm than good to the lungs 
when thus employed. Elliotson fumigated his wards 
with the medicines he made use of, and the atmos- 
phere of Citizen Ballard’s establishment was simply 
charged with chlorine gas. In both instances the vapors 
were mixed with common air, and used at the same 
temperature. 
This suggested to my mind the selection of a class 
of remedies which could be volatilized and inhaled at 
the temperature of the atmosphere. A list of effective 
agents possessing the requisite power and properties to 
control disease, which could be reduced to vapor with- 
out the appliances of hot iron or hot water, seemed to 
be a triumph in the system of treatment that would 
reward the severest labor. This could only be accom- ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
plished by the introduction of a new inhaler, suitable to 
the character of the remedies employed. 
To the performance of 
this task I devoted myself, 
and finally succeeded, I 
think, in supplying the desid- 
eratum. The instrument is 
simple, portable, and inex- 
pensive. It can not easily 
get out of order or broken; 
and may be carried about 
the person, and used at any 
time or place, at home or 
abroad, sitting or standing, 
in the house or the open 
field, without discomfort or 
inconvenience to the most 
feeble. With this inhaler, 
and a large class of volatile 
remedies, well tested and 
approved, I have succeeded 
in curing Consumption, 
Asthma, and Bronchitis, af- 
ter all hope of human relief 
has been abandoned. 
From this brief history, it will be seen that breathing 
medicated air, in treating diseases in the organs of res- 
piration, has been in vogue for many centuries, and 
practiced by the most renowned persons in the medical 
profession, though without any adequate attempt to re- 
duce it to a scientific system until about seventy years 
ago. It is not, therefore, as many suppose, a “patent 
medicine,” nor, as others declare, “the offspring of 
quackery;” but it is a science, requiring skill, knowledge, HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
12 
and experience, to master its details and make its power 
useful to the world. 
In the hands of an educated physician, who has 
given special study to acquire a knowledge of the 
effects of medicines when reduced to vapors and inhaled 
into the lungs, this method of treatment will produce 
grander results in mitigating the sufferings of disease than 
any known to man. It will, however, accept no divided 
homage. It must be espoused and wed as a virgin for a 
bride, with honor, purity, and merit in the overture. 
In its fair name and spotless reputation, the empiric, 
whether in or out of the medical profession, has no part or 
lot. When men speak in dispraise of this system of 
treatment for Catarrh and its consequences, they array 
themselves against eternal principles, which will survive 
their reproach, and flourish like Spring flowers o’er their 
self-dishonored graves. ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
13 
Chapter III. 
SYMPTOMS OF CATARRH IN THE NOSE, ACUTE AND CHRONIC 
FALLACIOUS TREATMENT HOW TO CURE IT. 
»ITH twenty-five years’ experience in treating 
Catarrh in every part of the respiratory 
structure, I will endeavor to inform the 
reader how to detect its presence, and guard 
against its consequences. 
Catarrh most commonly begins as “a cold in the 
head,” causing slight feverish symptoms, headache, pain 
above the eyes, and mucous discharges from the nose. 
When the inflammation extends into the tubes of the 
ears, a total or partial deafness, with discharge of bad- 
smelling matter from the external openings, are common 
symptoms. It also causes bad breath, if the lining 
membrane of the nose is ulcerated, and the matter, in 
hard, green chunks, is retained longer than it should be. 
When the membrane lining the nose has been at- 
tacked with acute Catarrh, it becomes very red, dry, and 
swollen, and so sensitive that the slightest added excite- 
ment will cause frequent and painful sneezing. The 
head suffers with a hot, “stuffy” feeling, the skin be- 
comes dry, the pulse is accelerated to the frequency of 
fever, and, while creepy, chilly sensations invade the 
back, every bone in the body seems to ache. 
Such symptoms continue awhile, when “clear hot 
water” discharges from the nose, almost in a continuous 14 
IIOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
drip, and in such profusion that handkerchiefs are rap- 
idly saturated, and require renewal every hour or two. 
This discharge may continue a day, and then gradually 
grow less, more bland and thicker, until it takes on the 
color and consistence of cream. When it does this, the 
acute symptoms of Catarrh are at an end. 
But after the attack subsides, it rarely happens that 
the membrane lining the nose and throat has been left 
in as good condition as it was before. Ever after, it will 
be found more liable to excitement than it had previously 
been. 
The disease being still confined to the front chambers 
of the nose, the general condition of the system may 
remain good; but when Catarrh, like an unwelcome 
guest, has opened the door, and obtrusively enters the 
back chamber of the nose, it means mischief, and holds 
your health in peril. Out of sight, under cover of the 
curtain of the palate, it works ruin to the parts, and 
menaces the integrity of the uvula, tonsils, throat, and 
larynx, by pouring upon them below the secretions from 
its ulcers above. Very soon these organs become in- 
oculated, when the disease takes on a more formidable 
character, and is harder to control. 
It will not require much time before the noxious 
odors arising from the putrid drip of the ulcers, being 
inhaled by every breath into the air-cells, will spread dis- 
ease among their delicate membranes. It is therefore 
enjoined upon all, as an act of prudence and safety, to 
regard Catarrh as an enemy to health, and to remove 
it by judicious treatment as soon as discovered. 
Catarrh in the head, like Consumption in the lungs, 
has been but rarely treated successfully by the ordinary 
physician. This want of success has not been for want 
of means to reach the seat of the disease; for the parts ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
15 
are accessible to p.11 the forces of the materia medica— 
solids, fluids, and gases. Nor does it arise from the ma- 
lignant character of the disease, which is only a simple 
inflammation at first, or ulceration of the membrane in 
its more advanced stage. 
The great error in treating it, heretofore, has been in 
prescribing remedies through the stomach for a disease located 
in the nose, which just amounts to no treatment at all; or, 
when local treatment is attempted, it consists in squirting 
a little warm water up the passages by a syringe or nasal 
douche, and the administration of an alterative medicine 
(whatever that may be) through the stomach and bowels. 
It is not a matter of surprise to thinking people that such 
treatment is always a fizzle and a failure. 
As already intimated, the odor of Catarrh is drawn 
into the lungs with the air we breathe. The membrane 
over which this poison passes before reaching the air- 
cells, becomes more or less affected by this local malaria. 
These bad influences can only be removed by inhaling 
a neutralizing vapor; while the ulcers in the nose and 
throat must be cleansed and healed by proper medicated 
washes. 
Let it be borne in mind, there is no disease that 
feeds and so soon develops Consumption as chronic 
Catarrh; and also that no treatment has been so suc- 
cessful in curing it, in every stage of its development, as 
the proper employment of medicated washes, in conjunc- 
tion with the judicious use of inhaled medicated vapors. 16 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
IV. 
CATARRH IN THE HEAD IN THE UVULA IN THE TONSILS 
A DESPERATE REMEDY QUACK SURGERY. 
BFTER Catarrh has destroyed the integrity of 
the pituitary membrane in the nose, the drip 
of the diseased secretions into the throat very 
soon develops inflammation in the faucal cav- 
ity. The first organ to become affected is generally the 
uvula, or soft palate, which may be seen in the back part 
of the throat. This assumes a thick, red appearance at 
first; but after a while becomes so flabby and relaxed 
that it rests upon the fauces when lying down, or the 
base of the tongue when sitting or standing up, causing 
not unfrequently a scraping, harsh cough, to remove 
something which seems to stick in the throat, or a con- 
stant desire to swallow the same something, which ‘‘will 
not down at our bidding.” 
As the cause of the relaxation of the uvula is so well 
understood, the obvious treatment proper would be to 
cure the Catarrh, that its effect might cease. But such 
is not the usual way the medical profession deal with 
elongulated uvulas. The custom is to cut them off\ and 
be done with them at once and for aye. 
But is such treatment wise, and for the best? I 
think not; and, to speak of it in mildest terms, it is a 
cruel and unnecessary mutilation. I grant a temporary 
relief from the annoying symptoms is obtained by this ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
17 
tawdry operation, but in no instance does it cure the 
Catarrh. 
Sometimes before, but most frequently after, the uvula 
has exhibited the demoralizing influences of Catarrh, the 
tonsi's are attacked. These glands are situated at the 
base of the tongue, on either side of the throat, where 
they are partially concealed by the curtain of the palate. 
When inflamed, they become very red, and so much in- 
creased in size as to present serious obstructions to the 
passage of food and drink into the oesophagus. Even 
the function of respiration is impeded, or maintained 
with difficulty. 
Disguised under various technical names—such as 
diphtheria, tonsilitis, “epizoo,” and sore throat—we 
should not lose sight of the fact that the disease is in- 
flammation, produced by the drip of dead secretions of 
the Catarrh; and that it will, if not arrested, ultimately 
reach and ruin the lungs. 
As this inflammation has been excited by the same 
cause that destroyed the uvula, the treatment for its 
subjugation should be the same; namely, to stop the acrid 
drip of the Catarrh. 
But here, again, the treatment of the ordinary physi- 
cian is strangely at fault, and neither embodies the dic- 
tates of common sense or science. If an astringent 
gargle, or the application of an emollient poultice to the 
neck, or rubbing the outside with a volatile liniment, 
fails to allay the inflammation, or reduce the size of the 
tonsils, cut them off\ say our professional Alexanders; and 
off they come. It has become hazardous to complain of 
toothache in the presence of members of this cutting 
tribe, lest they incise your guzzle or cut off your head to 
ameliorate your distress. Of course, such would be 
esteemed a capital operation. 18 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
There is too much—and, I fear, growing—disposition 
on the part of medical men to attain notoriety in this 
way. By some strange infatuation of the unthinking 
portion of the public, a high and false estimate of pro- 
fessional worth is attached to the use of the knife, no 
matter how many damaging capers it may cut, or however 
unskillfully it may be employed. 
I have no disposition to utter one word against the 
legitimate practice of surgery; but this unnecessary 
butchering deserves the severest censure. When men, 
glaringly incompetent, seek notoriety by such work, it is 
time to warn the afflicted of their danger. 
As enlarged tonsils obstruct the entrance to the wind- 
pipe, and interpose a surface of unhealthy membrane 
over which the air must pass before it enters the lungs, 
they become a powerful ally to Consumption, and cer- 
tainly assist in its development. 
Thus Catarrh has forged another link in the great 
chain of morbid pathology, and, by its insidious ap- 
proaches and accumulating power, will soon assail the 
citadel of life itself. ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
19 
V. 
CATARRH IN THE LARYNX—SYMPTOMS OF ACUTE LARYN- 
GITIS NO HELP 1 ‘ CLERGYMEN’S SORE THROAT” 
HOW TO CURE IT. 
''^pffeftl3FTER the tonsils become enlarged, and the 
< > membrane lining the fauces more or less in- 
durated by Catarrhal inflammation, the voice 
grows thick and harsh, and not only loses its 
musical quality and power, but gradually subsides to an 
almost inaudible whisper. When this condition is estab- 
lished, rely upon it, Catarrh has reached the larynx— 
the organ of voice, and one of the most important in the 
economy of respiration. 
The larynx is that part of the neck situated between 
the base of the tongue and upper part of the trachea. 
In general outline, it is funnel-shaped, narrow and cyl- 
indrical below, but broad above, where it presents the 
form of a triangular box, being flattened behind and at 
the sides, while in the front it is bounded by a prominent 
vertical ridge known as Adam’s apple. It is composed 
of nine cartilages, bound together by ligaments, and 
moved by numerous muscles. There are two openings 
in this structure—one in the top, called the glottis, 
guarded and protected by a valve to prevent any thing 
but air entering it; the other is a slit, about half-way 
down, in which are found the vocal chords. The glottis 
is the head of the windpipe; and, when food or fluid 20 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
are to be guided through the oesophagus into the stom- 
ach, a little valve (epiglottis) closes the top until the swallow 
is effected. Infinite wisdom is displayed in this arrange- 
ment to secure man’s comfort and happiness. If the 
least particle of food or drink enters the windpipe, it 
causes great distress, and violent paroxysms of coughing, 
until the offending presence is expelled. 
When Catarrhal inflammation attacks the membrane 
lining this important structure, it means bad work, fre- 
quently terminating fatally in a few hours. Washington 
surrendered his noble life to the power of this terrible 
malady. 
It is not necessary to present the symptoms which 
characterize an attack of acute laryngitis, with any view 
of prescribing a successful treatment in the emergency; 
for, alas! it is a disease which makes us deplore the 
impuissance of our art. Rarely indeed can any efficient 
service be rendered before death terminates the struggle. 
It may be well, however, to be familiar with its symp- 
toms, that we may know when to become reconciled to 
the inevitable, and cease to struggle against invincible 
law. 
They may be briefly stated. After exposure, the pa- 
tient complains alternately of feeling chilly and feverish; 
when the throat begins to feel sore and obstructed. Then 
the breathing becomes hard, hurried, and laborious, un- 
til a feeling akin to strangulation takes place; swallow- 
ing becomes painful, and gradually impossible. The 
voice grows husky, and settles into an inarticulate whis- 
per. Now the horrors of strangulation commence. The 
face assumes a livid hue, the eyes are restless, and look 
appealingly for relief. As the difficulty of breathing in- 
creases, the throat is grasped convulsively, as if to tear 
the obstruction from it by force; but, alas! after a brief ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
21 
struggle, all power is lost, the limbs lie motionless, when 
the spirit happily takes its departure from the body. 
A less malignant form of disease is known as chronic 
laryngitis. Though not less fatal in its character than the 
acute type, it simply requires a little more time to do its 
destructive work. It commences, of course, as a Ca- 
tarrhal sore throat, affecting the voice, and presenting all 
the symptoms of acute laryngitis, but in a milder form. 
It is mostly developed by excessive use of the voice. 
Teachers, lecturers, singers, play-actors, auctioneers, 
pleaders, and clergymen, are among those who suffer 
most from this disease. It is known as Clergymen’s sore 
throat. 
The symptoms vary from slight huskiness to total loss 
of the voice. Sometimes the membrane is only slightly 
thickened and inflamed; at others, much enlarged, and 
destroyed by ulceration. 
The most intimate relation exists between affections 
of the throat and larynx. The same membrane lines 
both organs, and both alike are subject to Catarrh. 
When the disease is in the throat, every breath drawn 
into the lungs first passes through the larynx; and with 
it the diseased secretions are inspired and absorbed by 
the cartilages, or entangled among the chords of the 
vocal slit. 
It is a curious and painful study to notice how diverse 
physicians are in their estimate and treatment of this 
disease. The treatment of Laennec consisted of bleeding 
by leeches and the lancet, and the use of blisters, sina- 
pisms, and cataplasms. Van Sweiten recommended the 
insufflation of pulverized alum. Sylvius, the chemist of 
Leyden, proposed to “correct the too great plasticity or 
viscidity of the fluids” by the internal use of hydro- 
sulphuret of potass. Dr. Rush advocated mercurial 22 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
frictions, blood-letting, and the internal “use of calomel, 
from one to five grains every hour, to prevent the effu- 
sion of coagulable lymph, and to bridle adhesive inflam- 
mation.” Dr. Watson recommends the administration 
of mercury (in blue pill, or hydrargyrum cum creta), anti- 
mony, digitalis, colchicum, opium, and hot and cold ap- 
plications externally; but naively remarks, in reply to 
Dr. Rush, “If we could always bridle [sic, a blind 
horse ?] and limit the influence of mercury itself, it would 
be a more valuable recourse.” Dr. Farre, quoted by 
Dr. Watson, writing in a very flowery strain of a lady 
patient whom he had calomelized, says: “Her complex- 
ion was composed of the rose and violet. Under a 
course of mercury she was blanched, in six weeks, as 
white as a lily!” Why did n’t he say, She was as pale 
as death could make her, and as cold and stiff! I could 
fill this book with just such criminal shilly-shally. 
It is folly, gross folly, to expect to cure this malady 
by medicines applied externally, or when swallowed into 
the stomach. There is but one sensible treatment to be 
employed, that gives any promise of success; and that 
consists in the direct application of remedies to the dis- 
eased organ. As the part affected can not be reached 
by any substance more gross than air, the remedy must 
of necessity be in an aeriform condition when inhaled. 
Fortunately for the suffering, this can be done; and when 
judicious inhalations are administered, in conjunction 
with medicated washes for the nose and throat, the 
treatment rarely fails of success. ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
23 
VI. 
CATARRH ADVANCED OVER THE TRACHEA INTO THE 
BRONCHIA ACUTE BRONCHITIS HOW TO TREAT IT 
CHRONIC BRONCHITIS HOW IT AFFECTS OLD PEOPLE 
CHARACTERISTIC SYMPTOMS DIFFERENT TREATMENT 
INHALED REMEDIES. 
part of the air-passage beginning at the 
j|m lower end of the larynx, and terminating in a 
HP K||j bifurcation which constitutes the beginning of 
the bronchia, is called the trachea. It pre- 
sents but little obstruction to the transit of Catarrh from 
the larynx to the bronchial structure, and does not 
require special consideration. We will therefore, for 
the sake of perspicuity, consider trachitis and bronchitis 
under a common head. 
When Catarrh enters the bronchia, the disease, though 
not technically so designated, belongs, per se, to the pul- 
monary structure. The bronchioli terminate in air-cells, 
and these form, in their aggregate character, the lungs. 
When people speak of bronchitis as an insignificant 
disorder, they make a great, and, not unfrequently, 
fatal mistake. 
When Catarrhal inflammation has reached the invest- 
ing membrane of the bronchial tubes, we apprehend the 
pathological condition of the parts by symptoms which 
define its character and determine its treatment. These 
are classified under two general heads,— acute and 
chronic, or dry and wet, bronchitis. 24 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
When the inflammation is acute, the membrane does 
not secfete much moisture, the breath is hot, and the 
throat feverish. A tight, harsh, dry, frequent, and dis- 
tressing cough, racks the head and chest with pain, while 
the whole body “aches,” and alternates with chills and 
fever. As the disease advances, the membrane thickens 
in the bronchial tubes, and secretes a gluey mucus, 
which adheres tenaciously to the surface, thereby nar- 
rowing the capacity of the air-pipes, and rendering 
respiration anxious, hurried, and quite difficult. The 
lips grow alternately livid and purple, while the face 
expresses great anxiety and apprehension, most pitiful 
to see. After delirium, the eyes close in the stupor 
of death. This form of bronchitis runs its fatal course 
in from forty-eight to seventy-two hours, and like its 
congener, acute laryngitis, can rarely be arrested by the 
most heroic efforts. My treatment in such cases is mainly 
in the employment of the lancet, drawing freely from the 
basilic vein, through a large orifice, until revulsion in the 
system is induced; after which, the administration of 
emollient and expectorant inhalents, such as the vapors 
of marsh-mallow, conium, and ipecac. 
I am well aware of the hostile feeling existing in the 
profession against the use of the lancet; but I also know 
that it is based upon an unreasoning prejudice, and a 
silly conceit that blood and life are identical. When 
life and death are in issue, the physician should not 
hesitate to employ the most efficient means possible for 
the conservation of the first. 
When recovery from an attack of acute bronchitis 
takes place, the decadence of the disease is marked by a 
gradual abatement of the severity of all the symptoms 
indicated. When the membrane begins to flux, the ex- 
pectoration at first is scant, clear, and of a saltish taste. ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
25 
It gradually increases in quantity, and changes in character 
to a whitish hue, and finally assumes the color and con- 
sistence of cream. The chills now subside, the pulse 
becomes less frequent and soft, respiration is no longer 
painful, color returns to the face, and love-light to the 
eye. 
The most prevalent form of Catarrh in the bronchial 
tubes is, fortunately for us, of a milder character than 
the one just described. Nevertheless, it is quite as in- 
tractable to the stomach-dosing treatment as the first; 
and though it does not assail life with the same malig- 
nant impetuosity, yet, in the end, is quite as fatal in its 
consequences. 
The chronic form of bronchitis is distinguished by a 
flabby and degenerate condition of the membrane lining 
the air-tubes. Mucus is secreted in such excess as to 
require almost constant cough to remove it from the 
bronchioli ; for if they choke, the patient dies. 
In this profuse expectoration, the lymph of the blood 
is drained away, and the whole body becomes wasted 
and flabby, losing its symmetry and strength. Old peo- 
ple, especially, are liable to this form of bronchitis, 
causing them to cough almost night and day to remove 
the secretions. It is not infrequent that from a pint to 
a half-gallon of semi-purulent mucus is thus discharged 
in twenty-four hours. 
The disease is not, however, peculiar to old people, 
but is found among all ages. In the young, it remains 
as a secondary result of measles, scarlatina, and whoop- 
ing-cough. Mercurial salivation will also produce it; 
and when mothers have prolonged the time of nursing, 
and the menstrual secretions become interrupted, it then 
develops itself in a dangerous form, accompanied with 
blood-spitting about the catamenial period. 26 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
When these secretions partially obstruct the bronchial 
tubes, and lessen the needed supply of oxygen to the 
system, the blood becomes surcharged with carbonaceous 
gas, which, by its depraved character, sets up a train 
of morbid conditions in every part of the organization. 
These will be more specifically indicated when we speak 
of miliary tubercle. 
This form of bronchitis must be treated quite different 
from that which we noticed first. One is dry, and the 
other wet. Here we seek to arrest the exuberant secre- 
tions of mucus; in the other, to encourage its flow. The 
one consumes you with the fever of drought; the other 
drowns you with a deluge of lymph. In either case, 
however, the disease is in the interior of the air-pipes; 
from whence it can not be successfully removed by 
mixing medicines with the contents of the stomach. 
The highest skill displayed by the profession, in the 
treatment of bronchitis, is in making applications of ni- 
trate of silver, or some other caustic, to the throat; or in 
dosing the stomach, ad fiauseam, with medicines in which 
are concealed tartarized antimony, ipecac, or other poi- 
sonous drugs. They vary this criminal folly by blister- 
plasters, croton-oil, or tartar-emetic applications, until the 
breast is flayed, or sloughing with dreadful pustules. And 
yet such barbarism is dignified by the name of science (?), 
and day by day is committed, without reproach, upon a 
long-suffering and much-abused humanity. To speak in 
fitting terms of such a practice,— 
It were base flattery to call it quackery! 
Such treatment, of course, is fraught with direst mis- 
chief to the suffering patient. The great desideratum is 
to get the remedies to act upon the diseased parts by a 
direct application. This can not be effected by swallow- ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
27 
ing medicines with potatoes and buttermilk; for, should 
the crude mass be absorbed into the general circulation, 
by the time the medicines traversed the round of the 
system, and reached the membrane of the bronchial tubes, 
they would be utterly exhausted of remedial character. 
It must be patent to every thinking person that inha- 
lation is the only method by which remedies may be in- 
troduced into the thoracic chamber, in sufficient strength 
to exert a healing influence over the diseased membrane 
lining the bronchial tubes. Reduce them to a condi- 
tion of vapor; then you can, with every breath you 
draw, fan the entire surface of the lungs with their 
benign and healing influence. 
There is less mental conflict, and much more physical 
comfort, in breathing a remedy into the lungs, than in 
swallowing powders, pills, or mixtures of drugs into the 
stomach. Is it not quite as elegant to say, “I will take 
a few vapor draughts to remove this pain in my lungs,” 
as to ask the doctor for a dose of calomel and jalap, or 
some little tooty pills, to cure you of a stomach-ache, a 
gouty foot, or a heart-disease 1 28 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
dl\hptef VII. 
TRACK OF DESOLATION—CATARRH IN THE AIR-CELLS—SYMP- 
TOMS CONSUMPTION SYMPTOMS TUBERCLES THE 
WARNING OF BLOOD TWO FORMS OF TREAT- 
MENT CONTRASTED. 
I WEAVING f°H°wed Catarrh in its track of deso- 
<|j Iffilj ij> lation from the nose to the bronchial tubes, 
|W„| we next see it assail, with fell intent, the for- 
cby-fv-o tress of life itself, the lungs. Here are gath- 
ered and appropriated the elements which sustain the 
body and exalt the spirit; and here, among the delicate 
air-cells, we must now confront this dreadful malady. 
When any portion of the bronchial tubes becomes 
obstructed with the secretions of the lining membrane, 
air can no longer penetrate the lungs beyond the points 
where the obstructions exist. The larger pipes may be 
open, but the smaller tubes become hermetically sealed, 
and as effectually closed as if a ligature were drawn 
tightly around them. When a portion of the lung struc- 
ture is thus deprived of air, nature combines her forces 
to open the channel again. Pain in the part is her 
first admonition of danger. If the necessary relief is 
not soon obtained by coughing, she renews her efforts 
with freezing chills, burning fevers, drenching sweats, 
delirious dreams, and wasting diarrhea. If all fail, then 
the starved structure dies, and the dead lung becomes a 
homogeneous mass of rotten matter, which is spit out ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
29 
by coughing. When this expectoration takes place, relief 
from the most distressing symptoms is promptly obtained, 
and the disease is thought to be abating; but, alas! this 
opinion is frequently nid to be illusory. .The de- 
stroyed and discharged suostance has left a hole in the 
lung, which gradually enlarges as the adjacent cellular 
structure is consumed by the burning fires of the disease; 
the cough and spitting continue to waste the strength 
and tissues of the body, until the presence of that 
dreaded malady, Consumption, can no longer be 
doubted. 
All this could have been averted by the timely and 
judicious use of medicated inhalations. If the tenacious 
secretions, which finally blocked up the tubes and cut 
off the supply of air from the lung structure, had been 
liquefied by expectorant inhalents, and discharged, the 
subsequent evil which we have briefly stated would have 
been avoided, without incurring risk to life or discomfort 
to body. 
It is hardly necessary to describe minutely all the 
symptoms by which the various forms of Consumption 
may be recognized, as observing people, not interested 
in concealing the truth, are sufficiently familiar with most 
of them to interpret their fearful meaning as soon as 
seen. It may, however, be doing a good service to 
others not so well informed, to point out some of the 
prominent symptoms which characterize the presence of 
this dreaded malady. 
When any considerable portion of the lungs becomes 
obstructed with miliary or cheesy tubercle, short breath 
is a leading symptom, and is always present when a 
little exertion is made, such as going up-stairs, ascending 
a hill, or even walking a little more rapidly than* is our 
habit. With the reduced breathing capacity, there is loss 30 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
of strength, impaired digestion, torpid liver, disordered 
bowels, disturbed sleep, and irregular pains and aches 
through the breast, back, and limbs. The intensity of 
these symptoms will be determined in the ratio of the 
amount of lung structure involved in the corroding 
deposit. 
While breathing is thus being gradually reduced, 
there is at first a slight “hacking cough,” which 
finally develops into a full and distressing paroxysm. 
As the disease advances, the hands and feet become 
habitually cold. Then creepy chills along the spine of 
the back occur, until they come on at regular intervals, 
leading many into the erroneous belief that they are 
suffering from periodic malarial “fever and ague,” for 
which they inconsiderately use antiperiodic medicine. 
The stomach, suffering from debility and drugs, refuses 
food, or fails to digest and appropriate it for nutritious 
purposes. The tissues of the body waste, and the vas- 
cular system becomes depraved with bile and carbona- 
ceous blood. As the liver is necessarily overworked, 
the physician calls it a “complaint,” and proceeds to 
drug the thing away, or blister the patient to death. In 
females, obstruction in the lungs will cause.suppression 
of the catamenia, and, as a collateral discharge, induce 
periodical blood-spitting. 
When a pulmonary artery or vein is involved in the 
portion of lung cropped with tubercle, hemorrhages are 
of frequent occurrence, and always denote serious disease 
within the chest. My estimate of this symptom is fully 
shared by others who have attained eminence in this 
department of morbid pathology. 
Dr. Carswell says: “It can not be too widely known, 
as a tiring of fearful interest, as pointing out the silent, 
treacherous progress of a deadly disease within the ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
31 
lungs. The loss of blood is an indication of the 
presence of tubercles, from which arises Consumption. 
Physicians,” he continues, “frequently cheer their pa- 
tients by the assurance that the blood has only come fro?n 
the throat. Let me warn you not to be deceived! In nine 
hundred and ninety-nine cases in every thousand, when 
blood is coughed up, it comes from the lungs, and speaks 
a terrible warning. If you value health, if you prize 
life, if you have any object that renders existence desira- 
ble, begin at once to resist the progress of this fearful 
malady.” 
Sir John Forbes, member of the Royal College of 
Physicians of London, in his work on “Thoracic Dis- 
eases,” says: “In those cases of bronchitis where blood 
is present in the expectoration, we always find tubercles 
in the lungs.” 
The well-known Dr. Charles Hastings remarks, in his 
work on “Diseases of the Chest:” “Though bleeding 
from the lungs does not always occur in Consumption, 
yet when it does occur it unfailingly indicates the presence 
of the disease.” 
Professor Latham, of the St. Bartholomew Hospital, 
speaks of bleeding thus: “Blood-spitting always gives 
fearful intimation of the presence of tubercles in the 
lungs, which, when matured, develop Consumption.” 
The celebrated French physician, Louis, thus tabulates 
his experience: “In twelve hundred cases of bleeding 
from the lungs, I did not, in a single instance, fail to 
detect the presence of Consumption, or witness its 
subsequent development.” 
We could extend this list of authorities so as to in- 
clude the opinions of almost every physician of eminence 
in modern times; but they would only corroborate, with 
exceptionle. s unanimity, the testimony already recorded. 32 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
Bleeding from the lungs, however, seldom proves 
fatal in its immediate consequences. Years frequently 
elapse, after its occurrence, before the fatal disease of 
which it is the precursor is developed. Indeed, it is not 
infrequent that persons who have bled from the lungs 
declare they feel decidedly better than before the hemor- 
rhage occurred; but, unless the tubercles have been 
drained by the bleeding, the cause remains undisturbed, 
and will eventuate in complete disaster to the pulmonary 
structure. 
The popular treatment for tubercular disease of the 
lungs consists in drenching the stomach with cod-liver oil, 
cough mixtures, tar cordial, cherry pectorals, balsams for 
the lungs (?), and a thousand other nauseating doses, 
vilely concocted in ignorance, and swallowed with sim- 
plicity of mind. Is it any wonder that such treatment 
should induce Dr. Johnson to say, “Swallow your med- 
icines, go to prayers, and meditate upon death?” 
The common-sense treatment for deposit in the lungs 
is, to absorb the tubercle, by proper medicated inhala- 
tions, before its incarcerating sack is broken. This 
can be done, and the matter carried into the circula- 
tion, in the same manner that effusions of the chest or 
dropsies of the abdomen are removed, or as enlarged 
glands and tumors are reduced. The blood will soon 
purify itself, through the functions of the skin, kidneys, 
bowels, and other emunctories. ASTHMA. AND CONSUMPTION. 
33 
Cl]hptef VIII. 
TUBERCULAR CONSUMPTION—MORBID CONDITIONS AND SYMP- 
TOMS—HOW TO DETECT DISEASED LUNGS—THE STETH- 
OSCOPE YB ANCIENT EXAMINATION. 
T would be a stultification of the whole sub- 
ject to suppose Catarrh the only cause of 
Pulmonary Consumption. Alas! we have too 
much positive counter-testimony to entertain 
such a thought for a moment. I will now record symp- 
toms which as truly indicate disease in the lungs as 
those already stated, but which have no connection 
whatever with Catarrh, and are the more dangerous 
because treacherous in character, exciting no suspicion 
until they spring upon you in a death-struggle, like a 
Thug upon his unsuspecting victim. 
Morbid pathologists are aware of the fact that tuber- 
cles may be deposited in the vesicles, or in the mucous 
surface of the bronchia, varying in size from a pin’s-head 
to a pigeon’s-egg, without exciting cough, expectoration, 
or blood-spitting. Even small patches of the areolar and 
interstitial portions of the lung structure may be infil- 
trated with fluid tubercular matter, and yet no evidence 
of the deadly disorganization be discovered, such as we 
usually expect to find. Under such conditions, the blood 
becomes a channel of depravity, and works mischief 
throughout the system. The functions of every organ 
become more or less disturbed by its malign influence, 34 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
until, under the general term of “failing health,” Con- 
sumption gathers its victims, more numerous than those 
sacrificed at the shrine of War, Pestilence, and Famine. 
Persons affected in this manner do business with re- 
luctance, and move with less alacrity than in health. 
They feel a dislike to all physical exertion, and neglect 
the most ordinary duties—giving way generally to sleep 
or a despondent condition of mind. 
In time, symptoms of dyspepsia appear, accompanied 
with heart-burn, water-brash, an unpleasant sensation in 
the stomach after eating, and habitual constipation of the 
bowels. Pain is felt in the region of the liver, through 
the chest, and under the shoulder-blades. The flesh 
gradually wastes; and sleep is not refreshing, but dis- 
turbed with unpleasant dreams. 
The kidneys secrete a high-colored urine, which de- 
posits a red sediment in the chamber, possessing all the 
chemical and microscopical characteristics of a depraved 
condition of the blood. With men, especially those who 
have used tobacco and stimulants in excess, hemorrhoids, 
or fistula in ano are common; while with females a sub- 
acute inflammation of the peritoneum, with partial or 
absolute suppression of the catamenia, and palpitation 
of the heart, equally indicate the presence of tubercles 
in the lungs. 
When a person is speaking whose lungs are infiltrated 
with tubercular matter, a close observer will often notice 
the white of the eyes to look preternaturally bright and 
pearl-like; while the muscles at the corner of the mouth 
and angles of the nostrils involuntarily twitch. 
Short breath, as already stated, is a symptom of such 
significance in determining the presence of tubercles, 
that when it exists the lungs should be carefully exam- 
ined at once by an able and truthful stethoscopist; and, ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
35 
if needed, no unnecessary time should be lost before 
treatment is employed for their removal. 
A few remarks in reference to the examination of 
lungs by the stethoscope may not be inappropriate in 
this place, and will form a fitting conclusion to this 
desultory chapter. 
There is no part of the business of a pulmonary 
specialist which requires more thorough study, more nice 
discernment and critical distinction in determining the 
character of disease in the lungs by the sounds of the 
chest, than is inspired by the legitimate employment of 
the stethoscope. Concealed as the lungs are from the 
scrutiny of the eye, beneath the bony walls of the chest 
and the ample protection of the muscles and skin, it is 
only by long practice we can become familiar with their 
sounds in health, and learn to distinguish the modifica- 
tions which disease makes in them by hearing. 
Until the invention of the stethoscope, and a critical 
knowledge of its value discovered, ordinary physicians 
did not pretend to examine the lungs in any other way 
than by gently tapping on the bosom of a woman, or 
giving “a thundering thump” on the breast of a man. 
This was thought to be quite sufficient for all practical 
purposes, and the doctor was supposed to be as wise as 
an owl after this critical inspection was over. As a fitting 
sequel to this stupid farce, he would then feed the stomach 
with medicine, for something he had not discerned in the 
lungs; and if the patient happened to die (which was not 
infrequently the case) before he could get that something 
out of the lungs, which he had given medicine through 
the stomach to accomplish, he would of course, as a 
humane man, deplore “the untimely taking off” of his 
patient, while he found comfort in the thought that he 
was a trifle too late in the employment of his skill. 36 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
Public opinion at last compelled the old, ordinary 
doctor to buy a stethoscope. When thus supplied, he 
approached his prostrate patient, and had no difficulty in 
detecting the delicate sounds of the lungs through a thick 
chinchilla overcoat, the creaking rattle of a starched 
shirt, muslin collars, flannel jackets, or solid old-fash- 
ioned laced corsets. 
He was no longer in doubt! Now, that he had the 
disease on the hip, he began to persecute it with med- 
icines through the stomach and the general circulation; 
and would have compelled it to surrender to his uncom- 
mon skill, if the patient had not “pegged out” under 
the influence of the last dose. How provoking to the 
doctor! 
Few medical men possess any but the most superficial 
knowledge of the use of the stethoscope; and, of these, 
but very few are competent to detect the early stages of 
Consumption. And still more rarely do we find the 
requisite qualification to treat successfully the disease, 
should they discover it. To realize the full value of this 
instrument, requires a special devotion to its employ- 
ment, and a separate study of the varied sounds it 
reveals in the organs of respiration. The accomplished 
stethoscopist discriminates the natural and modified 
sounds of the lungs, as presented in health or developed 
by disease, by the use of this instrument, as accurately 
as an art-musician distinguishes harmony and discord in 
the notes of a piano. ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
37 
dlihptef IX. 
ASTHMA SNEEZING HOW I BECAME A SPECIALIST DIFFER- 
ENT FORMS OF ASTHMA REFLECTIONS. 
IIERE is no malady the physician is called to 
fjji > meet so little understood in its pathology, and 
b||| so unsatisfactory in its treatment, as Asthma. 
The knowledge we have of this disease, to 
day, is but little, if any, in advance of that which 
obtained nearly two hundred years ago. 
In 1698, Sir John Floyer, M. 1)., published in 
London a “Treatise of the Asthma/’ which, aside from 
its quaint language, has not been excelled by any writer 
on that subject since his day. Dr. Watson is forced to 
admit the following extract from the old Englishman’s 
work as “a capital piece of pathology for the seventeenth 
century/’ while Laennec himself adopts the ideas, though 
not the language, of the baronet, and claims them as his 
own. After speaking of broken-winded horses as anal- 
ogous to Asthma in man, he goes on to say: 
“As it happens in external flatulent tumors, they at first go off and 
return, but at last fix in permanent flatulent tumors, so it is in Flatu- 
lent Asthma: the frequent nervous inflations induced at last a constant 
windy tumor or inflation; and it ought to be considered how far 
holding the breath in hysteric fits, or the violent coughing in long 
Catarrhs, or the great distension of the kings by an inflammation in 
the peri-pneumonia, may strain the bladders and their muscular fibers, 
and thereby the same rupture or dilatation, or hernia as 
happens in the broken-winded. This must be observed by the help 
of the microscope ; and, if the air blown into any lobe may again HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
subside of itself, ’t is certain some injury is done to the ventiducts; 
the bladders are either broken, and admit the air into the mem- 
branous or else they are over-distended, like a hernia in 
the peritoneum; and this will produce an inflation of the whole sub- 
stance of the lungs, and that a continual compression of the air and 
blood-vessels, which will produce a constant Asthma.” 
In all my reading on Asthma—and the literature on 
this subject is almost limitless—no writer has added much 
information to that communicated by the old English 
knight. Drs. Ridley, Millar, Rush, Falk, Withers, Ryan, 
Davidson, Bree, Lipscomb, Laubender, Zallony, Albers, 
Balfour, and others, quoted by Laennec, have written 
copiously on the subject; but when all their lucubrations 
have been reduced to germinal principles, they make 
about as pitiful display as a collapsed soap-bubble. They 
invent wonderful names, and describe symptoms of 
Asthma with commendable patience and accuracy; but 
the real pathology, the prime cause upon which all 
Asthma depends, has never been made to appear. The 
thing most important to know is the very thing that has 
eluded their pursuit, leaving them in Cimmerian darkness. 
Elliotson, in describing the character of Hay Asthma, 
does it in this way: 
“It is a combination of Catarrh and Asthma, and consists in ex- 
cessive irritation of the eyes [why ?], the nose [why ?], and the whole 
of the air-passages [why?], producing in succession, itching of the eyes 
and nose, much sneezing occurring in paroxysms, with a copious de- 
fluxion from the nostrils, pricking sensations in the throat, cough, 
tightness of the chest, and difficulty of breathing, with or without 
mucous expectoration.” 
Now, what does all this amount to? What new truth 
has he taught ? Has the center thought of all this 
“copious defluxion” presented any thing that a “snotty- 
nosed school-boy” could not have written as well, though 
perhaps not in such “hifalutin” style?* 
And Laennec is no better. See what a humiliating ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION 
39 
figure he presents when he attempts to handle this 
subject. He says: 
“ We frequently find an attack of Asthma begin and terminate 
without any difference in the state of the respiratory sound—it being 
equally feeble through the whole ; and in such cases, where the attack 
is not occasioned by a congestion of blood in the lungs or the super- 
vention of a fresh Catarrh, it appears to me that the paroxysm can 
only be considered as a temporary augmentation of the want of the 
system for respiration, occasioned, in all probability, by some unknown 
modification of the nervous influence.” 
This “temporary augmentation” of the great Laennec, 
and the “unknown modification of the nervous influence,” 
under which he displays his wondrous power of analysis, 
only shows how foolish great men can make themselves 
when they play mountebank on the mental stage of the 
world. That I may not be accused of doing this great 
Frenchman injustice, I will quote from him again as he is 
translated by John Forbes, M. D., F. R. S., of England, 
with Professor Andral’s notes appended. In regard to 
treatment, he says: 
“ In treating Asthma, remedies which succeed best with a great 
number of patients, are useless to many others; and in the same indi- 
vidual we find that a medicine which at first produced the best effects, 
and with surprising quickness, becomes entirely powerless after a lew 
days. For this reason, it is necessary to try successively several, and 
often very different, means." 
It were an endless and profitless task to attempt a 
recapitulation of all the hypothetical balderdash en- 
countered in the pursuit of a rational pathology for this 
distressing complaint. The discovery I made was, that 
physicians had no reliable pathology for the disease; and 
in reference to its treatment their views were as wide 
apart as the poles. Of a thousand remedies proposed 
for Asthma, one-half antagonized the other, and all 
failed to cure, as is shown by the above extract from 
Laennec himself. 40 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
When a student of Materia Medica, it was my habit 
to place before me a specimen of the plant, gum, or 
chemical I was reading up; and, by giving the substance 
a minute personal inspection at the same time, my mem- 
ory retained its history, appearance, and medical proper- 
ties, much better than it could otherwise have done. 
While thus engaged with Euphorbium canariensis, after 
inspecting the perforated tears, their color and size, I 
gave the jar “a shake-up,” to obtain a good smell of its 
odor. No man desires to smell fort ammonia twice in 
the same breath. So with gum euphorbia—one good, 
strong-pulling smell is all that is needed at one time. 
You may then take a smelling rest, and commence 
sneezing! 
That’s what I did, and sneezed long and loud, until 
my head was ready to split, and my eyes to pop out of 
their sockets. There seemed to be no end to the ster- 
nutation, though I had a sincere desire to stop it. One 
explosion followed another in such rapid succession that 
you could, at a suitable distance, fancy a miniature park 
of artillery in practice. The interior of my nose seemed 
to be on fire, and nothing but high sneezing could stop 
the conflagration; and that would n’t. I sneezed an 
hour—through the office, up-stairs, down in the cellar, 
and out in the yard—every few seconds an explosion 
with a terminating, O phew, ah! A nervous neighbor 
woman heard the unwonted noise, and, looking over 
the fence, inquired what it was all about. I sneezed 
her out of sight in a jiffy. A dog, gnawing on a shin- 
bone, left his dinner and the premises in haste, as I 
gave him a snorter of a sneeze. About the time I began 
to see stars, and the top of my head meditated a flight 
to the moon, a regular ten-pound explosion caused a 
stream of blood to flow from my nose. This brought ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
41 
relief from sneezing; but the violent inflammation of the 
pituitary membrane induced as severe a paroxysm of 
Asthma as I had ever seen. 
Asthma from sneezing was something to think about; 
and I had sufficient reason to do so for the next five 
years, during which time I was scarcely free from its 
distressing symptoms a week at a time, notwithstanding 
all the aid I received from a number of the most eminent 
physicians in the country. I resolved to make it a study, 
and with it the pathology and treatment of all diseases 
of the organs of respiration. That is how I became a 
medical specialist for treating diseases of the nose, throat, 
and lungs; and thus 
“ A divinity shapes our ends, 
Rough hew them as we may !” 
Asthma, like bronchitis, may be classified under two 
heads; namely, “wet and dry.” Under this general di- 
vision of its symptoms, we can arrange Humeral Asthma, 
Nervous Asthma, Rose Asthma, Hay Asthma, Spasmodic 
Asthma, Acute and Chronic Asthma, Congestive Asthma, 
Emphysematous Asthma, Asthma from a cellular cul de 
sac, and Sneezing Asthma. It was this last-mentioned 
form of Asthma, as already intimated, which interested 
me most, and caused me to think on the subject. 
The semi-suffocated condition one endures during a 
paroxysm of Asthma has led many to believe the dis- 
ease has its origin in the broncial tubes and air-cells. A 
critical examination of these organs, however, after the 
paroxysm has subsided, will not confirm this opinion. 
In a few minutes after suffering all the horrors of stran- 
gulation, with starting eyes and livid face, gasping as 
if each succeeding breath would be the last, all these 
symptoms subside, and not a vestige of the disease is 42 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
left, either in the bronchial tubes or air-cells, that can be 
discovered by any sense we may employ. Even when 
death occurs during a paroxysm of Asthma, which 
is not infrequent when there is organic disease of the 
heart or brain, a post-mortem inspection has failed to 
discover the bronchia contracted, or any part of the 
cellular structure closed. Excepting in Emphysematous 
Asthma, where the air-cells have ruptured and formed a 
cul de sac, or air-pouch, no abnormal condition can be 
traced in any part of the respiratory structure. 
When the pathology of Asthma is so little understood, 
is it a wonder that the treatment hitherto should be little 
less than a stupendous round of experiment, producing 
the conviction only that the disease is incurable? Physi- 
cians, like Dundreary, have the ugly habit of not only 
saying, “ That's what a fellcnu can’t find out,” when any 
thing perplexes them; but, worse, they adjudge the 
possible in all things by the limit of their knowledge. 
How is it, after the best medical skill has been 
exerted to cure Asthma, and failed, unaided nature often 
puts the pseudo-scientist to blush by granting the very 
boon which their services vainly essayed to command? 
The instances to confirm this statement are so trite, that 
to higgle at its verity is simply the occupation of a knave 
or fool. ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
43 
(jllhptef X. 
ASTHMA CONTINUED THE ADVENTURES OF A LITTLE PILL 
THE ROYAL ROAD OF MEDICINE TO THE “SPOT” THE 
NEW PATHOLOGY AND TREATMENT—THE PNEUMOGAS- 
TRIC NERVE—FACTS SETTLE ALL DISPUTES. 
HS nature cures Asthma, the physician should be 
able to do as much. 
Why does he not succeed in his benevolent 
efforts to alleviate the suffering he is called to 
witness? Let a categorical reply be given to this open 
and direct question. Is it not self-evident that he and 
nature do not harmonize in the application of remedies? 
The one succeeds, the other fails. 
The professional view of Asthma is, that it originates 
in an abnormal condition of the muscular structure of the 
air-tubes and air-cells. This, however, is only a pretense; 
for, if it were otherwise, would any physician, of com- 
mon-sense discernment, on such premises, predicate a 
treatment to reach the seat of this local disease through 
the general circulation of the blood? The absurdity of 
the proposition is sufficiently exposed in the body of the 
question. Still it may be doing a good service to give 
this foolish conceit and irrational practice a coup de grace 
just here. 
Let the reader fancy himself represented, in part, by 
the illustration on the next page, in the act of swallowing 
medicine for a disease in the lungs. 44 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
The Old System of Treating Catarrh, Asthma, 
and Consumption—Scientific Adventure 
of a Little Pill—Illustrated. 
There you are, with 
your mouth wide open 
for the reception of the 
precious dose, whether 
it be of cod-liver oil, 
Ayre’s Pectoral, Bate- 
man’s Drops, Kail’s 
•Balsam, Godfrey’s Cor- 
dial, Winslow’s Sooth- 
ing-syrup, Wistar’s Wine 
of Tar, or the “ Mcd- 
icamentum Dei Gratia,” 
which is the poorest of 
poor stuff, composed of 
the drips, drains, and 
washings of drug-shops, 
and sold for a dollar a 
bottle. 
Put a dose of one or 
all of these vile com- 
pounds in your mouth, 
or, if you prefer, a pill, 
powder, or sickening 
draught prescribed by 
a doctor, and send it 
on its mission to the 
lungs. It passes to the 
back part of the throat, 
where the road forks— 
i. Scientific hole—the mouth—it swallows the pill. 2. The pill in the throat— 
route abridged. 3. The pill in the stomach—has a go< d time with a big dinner. 4. 
Gets into the duodenum through the cardiac orifice, slightly damaged. 5. Took the 
wrong track through the ductus communis choledochus, and returned to—6. The 
ileum, or intestinal canal. Here it cushioned and caromed several times with potatoes 
and such, until it reached—7. The ileo-colic door, through which it passed into the 
8. Ascending colon, where, under a stiff breeze, it traversed the transverse, and—9. 
Descending colon track to—10. The final exit of tooty pill, blind as a bat, and in 
6uch a demoralized condition that its own doctor could not recognize it. ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
45 
one division leading directly to the lungs; the other do n't. 
Of course, the medicine takes the wrong road, and passes 
along the oesophagus, through the cardiac orifice, into the 
stomach. Here, in this great cut de sac, it mingles inti- 
mately with your breakfast,—beef, potatoes, bile, cab- 
bages, pancreatic fluid, and pancakes. After a thorough 
admixture of your tea-spoonful dose, or little pill, with 
the contents of the stomach, the whole mass passes 
through the pyloric orifice into the duodenum (and be it 
known that all respectable men and women have duo- 
denums); from whence it again passes successively 
through the jejunum, ileum, coecum, colon, and rectum, 
the whole constituting the alimentary canal of the sys- 
tem,—a musculo-membraneous tube about thirty feet in 
length, and lined through its entire extent with mucous 
membrane. Now, that you know exactly where the 
medicine has gone, and “feel in your soul” that it has 
been absorbed by the glands of the mesentery as a 
nutritive principle of food, there will be but little difficulty 
in “keeping your eye upon it” while it goes directly to 
the “spot” you wish. 
Of course, this specific work can not be done until 
it enters the intricate windings of the veins and arteries 
throughout the system which serve as canals for the 
blood, where it is floated to the very place most needed, 
providing it has plenty of water to swim in, and en- 
counters no bars, shoals, tow-heads, or snags, to delay 
or divert it from its destination. 
Now, it should be shown by the advocates of this 
mode of treatment for lung disease, that medicines thus 
administered will not mingle with the secretions, and 
undergo transformation and alteration as they pass 
through the digestive and circulatory systems. After 
doing this, then discover, if possible, just how the 46 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
medicine has reached the “spot” in the lungs, and 
missed the sore “spot” on the big toe! 
It will thus be seen that the pathological view taken 
of Asthma by the medical profession is proved to be in- 
sincere, by the very methods of treatment they employ 
to cure it. If it is a local disease, why not adopt a 
local treatment? Unless profession and practice har- 
monize, both are worthless. 
The most extensive branch of the cranial nerves of 
the eighth pair is the one known as the pneumogastric, 
or Par Vagum nerve. It passes through the neck and 
cavity of the chest to the' upper part of the abdomen, 
and is composed of both motor and sensitive filaments. 
It supplies the organs of .voice and respiration with 
motor and sensitive fibers, and the pharynx, oesophagus, 
stomach, and heart with motor influence. The origin 
of this great nerve-center may be traced through the 
fasciculi of the medulla; and, in its course to the 
abdomen, it sends out fibrous branches to the ears, 
the nose, the palate, pharynx, larynx, and to both 
lungs, anterior and posterior. Now, keep in mind 
that this great nerve-track is like a harp-string, which 
may be made vibrant by touching at any part, whether 
of the grand trunk or its sensitive filaments. It being a 
medium of sensation wherever the touch may be, the 
sense will be reflected along the entire track to both 
extremities. 
When Catarrh attacks the pituitary membrane of the 
nasal fosse, the nasal branch of nervous filaments of the 
pneumogastric grand trunk, spread out in a plexiform 
network all over its surface, becomes irritated, the 
nervora of the filaments arrested, and, as a consequence, 
the main stem, with all its fibrous branches—the auric- 
ular, the pharyngeal, both upper and lower branches of ASTHMA. AND CONSUMPTION. 
47 
the latynx, the thoracic cardiac branches, the anterior and 
posterior pulmonary branches, the oesophageal and gastric 
branches—are more or less in sympathy with the mal-con- 
dition of the nasal filaments. What is true of the nasai 
filaments is equally true of either or all remaining con- 
nections with this great sympathetic center. Thus we can 
understand how irritation of any plexus of filaments may 
affect another, sustaining a similar relation to the common 
track, or trunk. 
The nervous filaments of the pulmonary plexus per- 
vade and sustain every tube of the bronchia, air-cell, 
and areolar tissue. When this vital battery is disturbed 
by a nasal, pharyngeal, or gastric irritation, the effect is 
to produce a spasmodic action in the parts of the 
pulmonary structure receiving their motor or sympa- 
thetic support through the pulmonary branch of the 
eighth pair. 
Here we have the source and cause of Asthma. Any 
thing producing inharmony, or that will obstruct the 
flow of the vital currents, in this life-sustaining river of 
sympathy, may excite Asthma, pneumonia, pleurisy, or 
functional disturbance of the action of the heart. 
I am aware this pathological view of Asthma will 
challenge and receive harsh, wordy criticism by the 
Bourbons of the profession; but it forms the basis of 
a system of treatment which has been successful in curing 
the disease when others have signally failed. Truth is its 
own umpire. Facts settle all disputes. Non nostrum est 
tantas componere lites. 48 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
dlthptef XI. 
SPECIALTIES CONSIDERED MEDICAL COLLEGES PEOPLE IN- 
CONSISTENT INHALATION INDORSED BY PHYSICIANS 
TESTIMONY IN ITS FAVOR CONSUMPTION CURED MA- 
LIGNANT SORE THROAT AND ASTHMA CURED HAY 
FEVER CURED TUBERCLES RESOLVED CLERGYMEN’S 
SORE THROAT CURED A VALUABLE LIFE SAVED. 
Bl UCCESS, in general, is not so much an acci- 
dent as a result of well-directed effort. They 
| only “win in the long run,” who concentrate 
s their minds upon the object to be attained 
When efforts are diffused, nothing valuable is accom- 
plished. Stick to your single purpose, and work!—nine 
times in ten you will succeed when idle speculators fail. 
The “Jack of all trades is an expert at none.” 
The whole science of life can not be comprehended 
by a single mind. To understand the whole, we must 
consider the parts in detail. “One thing at a time,” 
is a wise axiom. 
The medical profession is organized on this principle. 
It is, in its aggregate character, composed of several 
branches of study, which must be specially considered. 
We will illustrate our meaning. 
In medical colleges, men are selected to teach those 
particular branches, of study with which they are sup- 
posed to be most familiar. The same rule of instruc- 
tion is observed in all educational institutions. Every ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
49 
Professor is a specialist in his particular line of thought. 
For instance, a man who has given a disproportionate 
amount of time to the study of human anatomy is sup- 
posed to be better informed of the position, shape, and 
magnitude of bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, cartil- 
ages, vessels, etc., than one who has given this depart- 
ment of medical science only a casual thought. Well, 
such a one would have a chair set apart for him, and 
be called a Professor of Descriptive and Surgical Anat- 
omy. Another, No. 2, who could cut more skillfully 
than No. 1, would be called Professor of Surgery. No. 
3 would claim a Professor’s chair, to lecture upon the 
Principles and Practice of Medicine. No. 4 would be 
no less considered a Professor, when he taught what 
he knew of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. No. 5 
would be offended if not called Professor, after he 
gave the results of his special study and observations on 
Comparative and Experimental Physiology. And why 
should No. 6 be considered less a Professor than the 
rest, when he tells what he knows about Physiology and 
Hygiene? No. 7 steps upon the platform with no uncer- 
tain claim for special recognition as Professor of Chem- 
istry and Toxicology; while No. 8 asserts, with no fawn- 
ing spirit, his right to Professorship when explaining the 
principles of Medical Jurisprudence and Psychological 
Medicine. Even the skillful manipulator in “obstet- 
rics” will not be satisfied unless he wears a Professor’s 
cap; and so we have Professors for Diseases of Women, 
Professors for Diseases of the Eye and Ear, Professors of 
Electrical Therapeutics, Professors of Histology, Pro 
fessors of Dental Surgery, etc. 
This is not all; but it is enough to show how the 
medical profession naturally divides itself into specialties, 
so that excellence may be attained in each deparment of 50 
1IOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
study. Here are fourteen learned men composing the 
Faculty of a medical college, whose business is to give 
their best thought on subjects they have specially con- 
sidered. For this, they acquire reputation outside of the 
college-building, and make it profitable to all parties, in 
more ways than one. 
Now, is it to be expected that a young man who has 
spent two or three years’ desultory reading and love- 
making in a country physician’s office, after attending 
one or two courses of lectures, and sowing his wild-oats 
in city-life, will know as much as his fourteen teachers 
combined, or even as any one of the Professors in his 
particular line of study? Indeed, it were too modest to 
suppose so much. 
What is the inference? Why, only this: If this 
young man would compete successfully for the Professor’s 
excellence, he must devote himself to the consideration 
of a special subject. Otherwise he will fail. Non otn?iia 
possumus omnus. 
It is beginning to be understood by the people that 
colleges grant diplomas to many young -men to practice 
medicine, which had better be withheld. Glaring in- 
competency should not be legalized; and, if this abuse 
of chartered privileges is persisted in, the good name 
of the profession will suffer, and its usefulness be 
destroyed. 
This grade of intellectual driblets agree that Catarrh, 
Consumption, and Asthma can not be cured; and, alas! 
the public mind echoes the pernicious sentiment; and 
yet, strangely enough, when affliction comes, the very 
doctor who declares himself incompetent to meet the 
occasion is called upon to prescribe. 
In view of the magnitude of the malady and the 
character of the physician, we need not affect surprise ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
51 
when we hear him declare, Consumption can not be cured! 
He speaks honestly of his own ability, and gives this 
opinion as the result of his practice by medicating through 
the digestive and circulatory systems. Why do n’t 
the people believe, and let him alone, when he tells 
them he can not cure Consumption, Asthma, or Catarrh 1 
As long as they apply, he will prescribe something, for by 
that means he gets his living; but if you look him in the 
face, and ask him if he can cure Consumption, he will 
answer, No!—for he understands it is more profitable 
to speak the truth than be caught in a lie. There is, 
however, a small class of physicians who are ever ready 
to examine and determine fairly upon the merits of any 
proposition which has for its object the public good. 
These deserve well of their fellow-men. Of such is the 
writer of the following interesting letter, which speaks 
for itself: 
Letter from a Conscientious Physician, confessing the Folly 
of attempting to cure Consumption by dosing 
through the Stomach. 
“Rensselaer, Ind., October 24, 1870. 
“Dr. N. B. Woi.FE,—Dear Sir: A week or two since, I received, 
through tlie post-office, your pamphlet on the Diseases of the Nose, 
Throat, and I.ungs, and the Cure of Consumption, etc. I have lead 
it with considerable interest. 
“ I have practiced medicine for forty years. 
“As a physician, I have long been convinced of the niter folly of 
attempting to cure Consumption by any method heretofore recom- 
mended. When called upon by persons afflicted with it, I alwavs 
managed to get clear of the case as soon as possible, and let some 
more ardent believer in the usual popular remedies try his skill, 
and see the failure of his treatment. I have believed for a long time 
that the disease was incurable, unless some plan could be devised for 
the direct application of remedies to the diseased parts ; and I knew 
of no plan by which this could be done, which could afford me a 
rational hope of success. I have had friends who tried the inhalation 
of medicine by steam vapor; but their cases had the usual terini- 52 
IIOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
nation. Their remedies either could not be so concentrated as to 
promote healing, or else they had not the proper remedial agents or 
suitable appliances for their introduction. 
“ I know not what remedies you employ; but from your confident 
assertion that you can cure the disease, often in its advanced stages, 
and the declaration of those who have tried your remedies, I am led 
to believe it is an advance and an improvement upon the former treat- 
ment by inhalation, and the use of more effective remedies. 
“ After reading the work and your vouchers, I felt if there was any 
cure for Consumption it must be on your plan of treatment, and I felt 
a desire to see it tried. Accordingly, I had a near neighbor, a lady, who 
it was said was going down with this fell, destroyer. She was not a pa- 
tient of mine ; but, as a neighbor, I put the pamphlet in her hands. 
The physicians who had administered to her had told her husband 
they could do nothing to cure her. I would have no desire to treat her 
case, but I would like to see the effect of your treatment. 
“ I think they will make application to you, and I should be glad to 
see you succeed in curing her. She was not so sunken as I expected 
to see her, and I think has no worse symptoms than many of those who 
ascribe their restoration to health, and their escape from death, to the 
efficacy of your treatment. 
“ I have another case in view, to whom I will extend the same op- 
portunity, with the same desire to try. This, too, is a lady, and I hope 
within reach of your remedies. 
“ Without intruding further upon your time or patience, I subscribe 
myself, very respectfully, Jamics Ritchey.” 
Dr. Ritchey is not the only physician who has “long 
been convinced of the utter folly of attempting to cure 
Consumption” by the usual process of reaching the lungs 
with medicines administered through the stomach and 
bowels. There are, indeed, but few capable men in 
the medical profession who do not entertain accordant 
views with Dr. Ritchey’s statement. His letter, there- 
fore, is representative of the sentiment of a large class 
of physicians who have had much experience in treating 
pulmonary disease. I will, however, introduce another 
letter of a somewhat similar character, at the risk of 
being unnecessarily tedious, to show “there is no med- 
icine that can be introduced into the stomach, strong ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
53 
enough to resolve'tubercles, that would not destroy that 
organ itself;” and “that the long list of expectorants 
and discutients are but the synonyms of failures:” 
A Scientific Letter from an Intelligent Physician, repudiating 
the Old Treatment, and favoring the New. 
“Philadelphia, December 29, 1871. 
“ Dr. N. B. Wolfe,—Dear Sir: I have just read your work on the 
treatment of ‘Pulmonary Diseases by Medicated Inhalations,’ and 
can not but coincide with you, that it is the only rational treatment 
ever yet proposed for those diseases, inasmuch as the medicated vapor 
reaches the seat of the disease directly, just as a topical application 
would an external sore. In a practice of many years, I have never yet 
.been able to discuss or resolve a tubercle in the lungs by the introduc- 
tion of medicines into the stomach, although I have almost exhausted 
our Materia Medica to discover such a remedy. Furthermore, med- 
icines in the stomach, after having been subjected to chymification, be- 
come so diffused and attenuated when taken up by the chyle, as to be 
almost, if not entirely, impotent for good or evil on reaching the lungs; 
and our long list of expectorants and discutients are but the synonyms 
of our failures. The phosphatic deposit of tuberculosis is unquestion- 
ably made while the patient is in a negative state—with an enfeebled, 
vascular action in the lungs ; but once made, there is no medicine that 
can be introduced into the stomach strong enough to resolve them, 
that would not destroy that organ itself, and the only possible means 
of reaching tubercles is by the gaseous, topical application, or med- 
icated vapor—as all other modes of treating Consumption are but 
histories of sq many failures. The plain, practical sense embraced in 
your treatise merits, and doubtless will commend itself to, the atten- 
tion of the medical profession, as well as the public. You are on the 
right track. Persevere. Respectfully, etc., Geo. C. Wood.” 
It will thus be seen, intelligent physicians have lost 
all confidence, if they ever had any, in the old system 
of drugging the stomach and bowels for diseases in the 
nose, throat, and lungs. Dr. Wood declares “he had 
almost exhausted the Materia Medica in his efforts to 
discover a remedy for Tubercular Consumption, but 
without success.” Hundreds of other physicians have 
made similar statements, and, with singular unanimity, 
say by the old system of treatment no disease of the 54 
IIOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
respiratory organs can be cured. Is it not time that the 
people should believe the doctors? What kind of folly is 
it to hope for success, when nothing but multiplied failure 
stares you in the face? 
A gentleman in broken health consulted with me, in 
1868. After a careful examination, I found the mem- 
brane of his nose, throat, and bronchial tubes partially 
destroyed by Catarrhal ulceration, and the upper and 
middle lobes of his right-lung fearfully obstructed with 
tubercular deposit. Muco-purulent pus was secreted in 
excessive quantity, requiring an almost constant cough 
for its ejectment. His whole system was in extreme 
emaciation, with great debility, and the usual symptoms 
of Tubercular Consumption present. Several physicians, 
who had been medicating his stomach and bowels, pro- 
nounced his condition hopelessly incurable. 
It was not a fair case to test the merits of the new 
system of treatment; but it afforded an excellent opportu- 
nity of contrasting the old with the new. I prescribed 
proper medicated inhalations for the bronchial tubes and 
lungs, and medicated washes for the nose and throat. 
This treatment was continued three months, during which 
time the patient gradually grew better, and finally was 
restored to health. 
To ascertain whether the cure was permanent, three 
years after his recovery I wrote to Mr. Reed, asking for 
such information. To my letter he made the following 
reply, after the head-lines: 
A Hopeless Case of Tubercular Consumption cured by 
Medicated Inhalation. 
“Kenton, Kenton Co., Ky., May 23, 1871. 
“ Dr. N. B. Wolfe, Cincinnati, 0.: 
“Dear Friend,—In reply to your friendly inquiry after my 
health, I am happy to assure you that it never was better; and for that ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
55 
health, and even life itself, under a kind Providence, I am indebted to 
your skill and experience. 
“I believe, now, that had I never called to consult you about my 
case, I would ere this have been numbered with the dead. You com- 
menced treating me for Catarrh of the throat and bronchia, and for 
tubercular obstruction of right lung, on the 14th of October, 1868, and 
three months’ treatment was attended with most gratifying results. 
At the time I commenced using your medicine I was greatly reduced ; 
for months I had passed sleepless nights, coughing almost incessantly. 
My condition was most wretched and pitiable indeed. How I suffered 
none can tell, except those who have passed through the same bitter ex- 
perience. I had tried various physicians and remedies for relief, but in 
vain ; the disease marched steadily and resistlessly on, carrying me, as 
I believed, to my grave. When I first called to consult you about my 
case, I must confess that it was with a good deal of that sort of faith 
that drowning men are said to see deliverance in, clutching at straws. 
My friends all looked upon the experiment as a sort of forlorn hope— 
a probable prolonging of a life past medical skill to restore. You 
know not with what anxiety and solicitude they watched the progress 
of the case ; but, thanks to your skill and experience, I am in the en- 
joyment of better health than ever before, and with a constitution 
reinvigorated. I have not had occasion to take a single dose of med- 
icine for more than eighteen months. My weight exceeds by thirty 
pounds any weight ever attained by me before, even in my former 
healthiest condition. I have not hesitated to recommend your mode 
of treatment for all diseases of the nose, throat, and lungs, as the 
safest, speediest, and the most satisfactory; and I do believe the 
cures effected in this way are permanent. 
“ Please accept my sincere thanks for the friendly interest you man- 
ifest in my health, and all else that concerns my welfare. May you live 
long to confer the same blessings upon suffering humanity that you 
have upon me! The subscriber will ever hold your services to him i:i 
grateful remembrance. 
“ Very sincerely, your friend, Robert H. Reed.” 
A majority of the applicants for treatment by med- 
icated inhalation are in such an extreme condition of 
debility that but little expectation of their restoration to 
good health can be reasonably entertained. The trial is 
made as a forlorn hope, after all other systems of 
treatment have failed. 
I will state, in illustration of this fact, the case of a 56 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
Mr. Harrison, of Dearborn County, Indiana. This gen- 
tleman called upon me early one morning, and handed 
me a circular statement of the condition of his son’s 
health. After a careful analysis of the symptoms re- 
ported, I declined to prescribe, and gave as my reason 
for doing so, that the sick man was dying when this 
report was made. The anxious father, of course, could 
not realize the extreme condition of his son’s health, and 
urged that he was better than he had been for some 
time, in the forepart of the preceding night; that he had 
rested well, coughed less, and talked cheerfully and 
hopefully. While he was thus proceeding, a telegram 
was handed in at the door, which read: “Dr. Wolfe,— 
tell Mr. Harrison to come home. John died at two 
o’clock, this morning.” For the first time, the poor, 
heart-stricken father began to realize the calamity that 
had fallen upon him, and broke down in grief. 
I could cite a number of cases quite similar in char- 
acter, all tending to show that treatment was only 
resorted to after death had placed its signet on the 
victim. A gentleman from Bureau County, Illinois, in 
the last stage of Consumption, imprudently, in his ex- 
tremely reduced condition, made me a visit, for personal 
consultation. I urged him to return to his home at once, 
that he might be blessed with the Oriental benediction, 
and “die among his kindred.” But, alas! the “white 
messenger” surprised him on the cars, while entering the 
depot at Indianapolis, where strange but sympathetic 
hands supported his head as it drooped in death. 
I think it a reasonable estimate to make, that one- 
half the people who make application for treatment by 
medicated inhalation are in a dying condition at the 
time. When failures occur in such cases, it is not fair 
to cite them against the efficiency of the treatment. ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
57 
Nothing but the Divine command to “arise, take up thy 
bed and walk,” would be adequate to vitalize again the 
wastes of such broken and shattered forms. 
In many of these extreme cases, I question the 
possibility of cure, but dare not hesitate in my efforts 
to save while life remains. Of such a character was 
a circular application made by Mr. E. J. Cornell, the 
assistant postmaster at Columbus, Ohio, for his wife. 
The condition of her health was such that her attend- 
ing physician informed the family “she could not live 
two hours; that she would be a corpse before my med- 
icines could be received.” The sequel shows the doctor 
was in no condition of mind for determining coolly upon 
the chances in the issues of life and death. We invite 
special attention to the following statement of Mrs. 
Cornell: 
A Dying Woman rescued from Death by Medicated Inhala- 
tion—Read the Testimony of the Living Patient. 
“ Worthington, Franklin Co., O., October 20, 1871. 
“Dr. N. B. Wolfe,— Dear Sir: The season for visiting has 
passed, and yet we have not had the pleasure of seeing you in our 
village, as you partly promised we should, if you could arrange your 
business to leave it for only two days. I know how it is, so I have no 
complaint to make, however much I may feel disappointed. 
“I had so much to say to you, which I could not write, and my 
family were so anxious to see the man who had saved me from so 
much suffering, and, as we all believe, death, that really you have 
escaped an ovation by remaining at your post of duty. At the last 
anniversary of our wedding, dear husband and I really did wish you to 
be present to share our enjoyments and receive our thanks. 
“ We all feel that you have been a true and good friend to us in 
time ot need, and you must allow me to express my gratitude in this 
way, if you will not receive it in person. When you undertook to 
restore my health, you scarcely understood the magnitude of your 
enterprise. It is necessary now to inform you what you have really 
accomplished. 
“ For twenty years I had been subject to sore throat and cough, and 
for the past five years a confirmed invalid. My disease baffled the 58 
IIOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
skill of the most celebrated physicians of this and other States. I can 
not tell yon how many were employed ; but none gave me the slight- 
est relief of a permanent character. My symptoms were peculiarly 
distressing. For hours I would struggle for breath, during which time 
the flame of life could only be kept alive by fanning, and the kind 
offices of loved ones. Frequently my breathing seemed to stop, or 
recurred with such gasping intervals that every breath drawn would 
appear to my afflicted friends to be my last. I was entirely willing 
that the silver cord should be loosened -T for such suffering could no 
longer be endured. I felt that I was choking—smothering, dying! O, 
such distress, and such helplessness ! What agony to endure, and yet 
no hope of relief! I could not raise my hand to my head, and could 
only make my wants known by the mute language of the eye. My 
attending physician retired from my room with my dear husband, to say 
he had no hopes of my living Uvo hoursl Anticipating this opinion, 
we had ordered your treatment two days previous, and were now free 
to inform the doctor of what we did. He shook his head, and re- 
marked, ‘Your wife will be a corpse before you receive Ur. Wolfe’s 
medicines.’ I am happy to say he was mistaken, though all 'were of 
his opinion at the time. Under such circumstances, your medicines 
and inhaler were received, and their use commenced. It was a severe 
test for your new treatment, and we all expected it to fail. I had 
tried the old Thompson practice of lobelia and high belia, allopathy, 
homoeopathy, electropathy, and hydropathy, but grew gradually worse 
in my condition. Your inhaler was held to my mouth ; for I could 
not raise my hand to perform so trifling an office. As I drew, for the 
first time, medicated air into my lungs, I felt my hopes revive. ‘Thank 
God!’ I mentally ejaculated, ‘I still live and hope.’ My distressing 
paroxysm gradually gave way, and I was soon relieved, so much as to 
be comparatively comfortable by continuing the medicated inhalations. 
I was reduced to a mere skeleton, and could not take as much nour- 
ishment as an infant. Some of my physicians pronounced my disease 
laryngitis, some pharyngitis, others bronchitis, some croup (of five 
years’ standing), and, again, it was called liver complaint; but they 
would not call it, as you did, Asthma and Consumption ! My cough 
and terrible paroxysms of choking gradually began to subside from the 
first time I began to use your medicated vapors. For more than two 
years, now, neither have returned. 
“ Do you remember, Doctor, when you wrote, ‘ Mrs. Cornell, you 
will never have another savage choking ?’ That promise did me ever 
so much good! ‘Thank God for that!’ I exclaimed. ‘I believe Dr. 
Wolfe—he has never deceived me.’ Since then, O what a change ! I 
wish you could see me now—restored completely l and happy in my 
new-found health. I was an object of pity, but am now an object of ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
59 
envy. The girls would like my rosy cheeks, and—well, it won’t do to 
say plump form: that don’t exactly express it; conceive of something 
better, then you have it. 
“ Perhaps you would like to know how I put in my time. Well, 
I’m preaching the new gospel of health far and wide, at home and 
abroad, with voice and pen. I sound it from the housetops, and 
through the streets of Worthington. I visit the invalid, and whisper 
hope to the despairing ear, and encourage the sinking heart to be firm ! 
I low many patients have I sent you ? A dozen, at least. . . . But 
I have written too long a letter. Come up when you can. You’ll be 
no stranger here. . . . 
“ I remain your sincere and grateful friend, 
“Mrs. E. J. Cornell. 
• 
“ P. S.—Place me among the witnesses to testify to the value of 
medicated inhalations in the next edition of ‘Common Sense.’ 
“Mrs. E. J. C.” 
The foregoing case has been described with sufficient 
accuracy to require no further comment than to say 
that the victory won by the treatment in this instance 
was snatched from the very jaws of death. No wonder 
the physician felt appalled in the presence of such a 
complication of maladies; for, with his system of treat- 
ment, he was utterly unprepared for the encounter. 
Among hundreds of cases of malignant sore throat 
which I have treated successfully by medicated inhala- 
tions and washes, I will refer to that of Mr. David 
Baker, the fashionable hatter, in the Gibson House, of 
this city. His Catarrh exhibited such an intractable 
character as to threaten utter demoralization to the pul- 
monary structure. It was in this hopeless condition that 
the treatment was employed, and with what success will 
appear in the following letter: 
“Cincinnati, O., November i, 1871. 
“Dr. N. B. Woi.ff,,—Dear Sir: Your note, bearing even date 
with this, is to hand. Accept my sincere thanks for your kind wishes, 
and believe me, with reciprocal regards, yours truly. 
Malignant Sore Throat cured by Medicated Inhalation. 60 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
“In regard to my health, it is every thing that could be desired. 
My throat and lungs have given me no trouble since you pronounced 
them well. I have no cough, or pain in any part of my chest. I have 
taken cold once or twice by exposure; but no ill effects were left, to 
remind me of the old infirmity. The good health I now possess ena- 
bles me to enjoy life with comfort, and to attend to business with 
pleasure and satisfaction. 
“ I can not permit this opportunity to pass unimproved without 
thanking you most sincerely for the great service you have rendered me 
as a physician. Whatever is valuable in life, I feel I am indebted to 
you for its enjoyment. Hence, I remember you in pleasant places. 
“ May you be abundantly rewarded for your efforts to save from 
death the dying, to revive the drooping spirits of the desponding, and 
to restore to health the sickly children of the race!—is the sincere 
wish of your grateful friend, David Baker.” 
While transacting some financial business, on the 5th 
of September, 1859, at the counter of the Walnut-street 
Bank, in this city, with the teller, Mr. George C. Glass, 
I observed he was suffering very much with Pulmonary 
Asthma, which he said he had had, with short periodical 
exceptions, for fifteen years. He desired me to under- 
take the treatment of his case, which I did, with the 
following result: 
Asthma of Fifteen Years’ Standing cured by Six Weeks’ Use of 
Medicated Inhalations—A Well-known Citizen testifies. 
“Cincinnati, January 12, i860. 
“Henry Watson, Esq.,—Dear Sir: Your favor of the 10th 
inst., inquiring to what extent I have been benefited by Dr. Wolfe’s 
treatment, and whether I would recommend it to others suffering from 
Asthma, is received. In reply, I would say, I have received much 
benefit from using Dr. Wolfe’s remedies ; and what he has done for 
me, I doubt not, he can do for others. 
“ I had been troubled for the past fifteen yeyrs with Asthma, which 
invariably made its appearance in the Fall of the year, and continued 
through the Winter and Spring. Last Fall, it came on with more 
than usual violence in all its symptoms. I called on Dr. Wolfe, and 
put myself under his treatment by medicated inhalations, and re- 
ceived relief immediately ; and in one week my breathing was entirely 
free. I continued his treatment, however, six weeks, under his advice, 
when I discontinued it, not feeling the slightest necessity for using it ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
61 
longer. It is now more than five months since I used his treatment, 
and have passed through the season during which I usually suffered 
most, but without any symptoms of my old complaint returning. J 
think I may now consider m yself cured. 
“ I have no hesitation whatever in recommending Dr. Wolfe’s treat- 
ment to persons suffering from Asthma, or any other form of throat or 
lung complaint, and feel satisfied that any one using it will soon be of 
the same opinion as, 
“ Very respectfully, yours, George C. Glass.” 
Here was a case of Asthma which ordinarily contin- 
ued nine months in the year, including Fall, Winter, and 
Spring, which had never failed to put in its annual 
appearance for fifteen consecutive years. The effect of 
six weeks’ treatment by medicated inhalations, in this 
case, was to stop the disease for five months, with no 
symptoms of its returning, at which time Mr. Glass con- 
sidered himself cured. But how long would the case 
remain cured?—is a question of interest to all afflicted 
with Asthma. I answer, As long as he lives, providing 
he does not perversely invite its return. Desiring in- 
formation on this subject from Mr. Glass himself, I 
wrote him a letter, more than twelve years after he had 
pronounced himself cured of Asthma, asking him to 
inform me whether the cure had remained permanent. 
To this letter Mr. Glass made the following reply: 
“ Walnut-street Bank, G. H. Bussing & Co., 1 
“ Cincinnati, November i, 1871. [ 
“Dr. N. B. Wolfe,—Dear Sir: Your note of inquiry in regard 
to my health is before me, and am pleased to give you an early reply. 
“In a letter written almost twelve years ago, I stated that, after 
suffering for fifteen years with Asthma, I thought I had been perma- 
nently cured, after going through a course of your treatment lasting 
about six weeks. I wrote that letter five or six months after receiving 
your treatment; and, as for the previous fifteen years I had been trou- 
bled with Asthma at every change of the weather, I supposed, from 
the long lapse without having any attack, that I was permanently cured. 
“ I have, however, since that time, had two or three pretty severe 
attacks of the old enemy; but I never have them now except in the 62 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
Fall of the year, whereas, previous to receiving your treatment, I was 
liable to an attack at any lime. Although I have many doubts as to 
whether or not a confirmed asthmate can be cured, I know his suffer- 
ings can be greatly- alleviated. I can conscientiously recommend any 
one suffering with that terrible disease to call on you; I know you will 
give them relief, if you do not permanently cure them. Perhaps if / 
had follcnved your directions more closely than I did, I might have been 
permanently cured. You ask the privilege of making my reply public 
through the pages of your valuable little work, ‘Common Sense.’ In 
answer, I will only say, if my reply to your letter could be the means 
of relieving any one suffering with Asthma, you are privileged to make 
it as public as you please. 
“In conclusion, if this letter is to be published, I would wish to 
say to those who read it, in all social and business relations with Dr. 
Wolfe you will find him a gentleman. He expresses himself with 
frankness and candor, and, though he may be mistaken in his opinions, 
he is never obscure in his sense. He will honestly tell you what he 
thinks when asked for a professional opinion, and will either make you 
glad or sad. lie makes no promises which he does not fulfill. 
“ In conclusion, dear Doctor, I will only say that such a man as 
yourself will have many warm friends, and perhaps some bitter enemies. 
Among the former I hope ever to remain. 
“ Very truly, yours, George C. Glass.” 
It will be observed, in twelve years Mr. Glass had 
but two or three severe attacks; and even those he 
thinks he might have escaped, had he followed the 
directions I gave him, more closely. 
I met Mr. Glass a few days ago (June, 1874) on the 
street, he having just returned from Eureka, in Nevada, 
where he is now permanently located, and he assured 
me his health could not be better than it then was; and, 
though exposed to all kinds of hardships and inclemen- 
cies of weather, he had had no attack of Asthma for 
five years. 
Interesting Correspondence between two Distinguished Pioneer 
Citizens of Cincinnati on the Curability of Hay Asthma. 
Major Daniel Gano, the writer of the following 
letter, recently died in this city, in the seventy-ninth ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
63 
year of his age. He is said to have been the first white 
child born in Hamilton County, of which Cincinnati is 
the county town. He was therefore the oldest white 
native of the county when he wrote the appended letter 
to General Rees E. Price, another venerable pioneer, 
now living, in his eightieth year. Both these old-time 
gentlemen have filled offices of honor and trust, and 
both have been presidents of the “Pioneer Association” 
of old folks who settled in Cincinnati early in the pres- 
ent century. As they assisted in subduing the physical 
wilderness, and prepared the way for the “Queen City” 
to grow “a thing of beauty and a joy forever,” so are 
they now assisting to drive out savage ignorance from 
the wilderness of mind, that Science may introduce her 
higher truths, and stimulate the advent and growth of a 
higher civilization: 
“Cincinnati, August 18, 1870. 
“ Gkneral Rees E. Price,—My Revered Friend: I have noticed 
a statement, which has obtained an extensive circulation through the 
public press of the country, to the effect that Henry Ward Beecher 
was well satisfied in his mind that Hay Fever, Rose Asthma, or Rose 
Cold—as called—was ao incurable disease, and that he had suffered 
with it for many years, and was still a victim to its annual torment. 
“ Having some friends who are troubled with this affliction, I hope 
it is possible that Mr. Beecher is mistaken ; and I am encouraged to 
think he is, from hearing that a member of your family, who had suf- 
fered a long lime with the Hay Asthma, has been successfully treated 
by a resident physician of this city. It would be a matter of .public 
interest to hear from you on this subject, as any statement you might 
make would be received with entire respect and confidence by your 
large circle of friends and acquaintances, and be of public utility. 
“ After so many years of friendly intimacy, I may lie allowed to 
congratulate you on passing your seventy-fifth birthday in such a fresh 
and healthy state of preservation. 
“May you and your venerable lady have many happy returns of it! 
“ May you and yours be blessed with all earth affords, or Heaven 
can send ! 
“ Long life, good health, much pleasure, and very many friends ! 
“ Mrs. Gano joins in kindest regards to your good lady. 
“ In best of bonds, yours, Daniel Gano.” 64 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
To which General Price makes the following reply: 
“Twenty-first Ward, Cincinnati, August 22, 1870. 
“ Major Daniel Gano,—Respected Friend: In reply to thy kind 
inquiring letter of the 1 Sth inst., I stale as follows : 
“ My eldest grandson suffered with Hay Asthma several years. It 
came on regularly in the early pai t of the Summer, and continued till 
late in the Fall. Our efforts to alleviate his distress did not meet with 
much success. He derived most benefit from visits to the cool climate 
of Lake Chatauqna, New York ; but that was only temporary. Twice, 
after escaping the disease during the Summer, it returned with violence 
while en route for home, in the Fall. 
“ The last time he came home with Hay Asthma, September 30, 
1868, we engaged the professional services of Dr. N. B. Wolfe, of this 
city, a medical specialist for treating diseases of the nose, throat, and 
lungs, of whom we had heard by common report as being successful in 
treating this disease. Under the influence of his remedies, my grand- 
son rapidly improved, and during the remainder of the season had no 
return of the Asthma. 
“The following year, 1869, my grandson remained at home, and, 
several weeks before the time usual for his Asthma to return, received 
preventive treatment again from Dr. Wolfe, who locates the pathology 
of Asthma in the nose. The result was most happy and satisfactory 
to all. The disease, for the first time in several years, did not appear, 
notwithstanding, my grandson, in August, attended the annual county 
fair near Florence, Ky., and during the time was exposed to the dust 
and discomfort usual on such occasions. Still another year has now 
gone by, and yet there has been no return of Asthma. 
“ From the successful results of Dr. Wolfe’s treatment in the case 
of my grandson, I am disposed to believe Hay Asthma is a curable 
disease. 
“ For your kindly feeling and congratulations, accept my sincere 
thanks, and believe me, with much personal respect, 
“Yours, truly, Rees E. Price.” 
Four years have elapsed since the foregoing corre- 
spondence closed, but since then the “eldest grandson,” 
alluded to by General Price, has had no return of his 
unwelcome visitor, making in all six years’ exemption 
from the last attack of Hay Asthma. Is it cured? Or 
how long a time must elapse before a cure may be pro- 
nounced entirely satisfactory? ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
65 
The writer of the following letter has quite recently 
passed to the spirit-world. In this city, where he was 
well known, however, his statement will continue to in- 
fluence the minds of men; for a purer, more upright and 
honorably minded man never dwelt in our midst. For 
many years, Mr. Van Deursen filled the responsible po- 
sition of general auditor of the Ohio and Mississippi 
Railway Company, in which capacity he was serving at 
the time he was stricken-with a fatal prostration. His 
voice, in favor of medicated inhalation, now comes to 
us as if from the bright land of-the hereafter; and we 
reproduce his letter because we believe, if he were pres- 
ent, he would authorize us to do so: 
“Auditor’s Office Ohio & Miss. Railway Co., 
“Cincinnati, August 27, 1870. 
“ Dr. N. B. Wolfe, Cincinnati, 0. : 
“ My Dear Sir,—You are aware tliat the general sentiment is, 
that testimonial letters are very easily obtained, and not unfrequently 
manufactured for effect; but I am too well known in this city to excite, 
in the minds of my friends and acquaintances, any idea of an attempt 
at sensation in the statement of my case. 
“ When you took my case in hand, I said to you that I had be- 
come desperate, having been a sufferer from the diseased condition of 
my nose, throat, and lungs—all being involved—for more than ten 
years. So long, indeed, had I suffered, that the diseased condition of 
these vital organs had become chronic, and, by ordinary medical 
treatment, considered incurable. 
“My constant liability to severe hemorrhages, and the frequent 
recurrence of bleeding, sometimes to the extent of a pint or more 'of 
blood, followed by great prostration and loss of flesh, nausea, and 
loathing of food, and other attendant afflictions in such cases, led me 
to try the skill and advice of the best and most eminent of the profes- 
sion in medicine; and, in my anxiety for relief from one or all of these 
unnatural conditions of the system, I used many of the published rem- 
edies declaring a sure cure, in the vain hope that, by medicating the 
general system through the stomach, relief might be secured through 
some of these means. Temporary relief was sometimes obtained ; but 
the disease was only laid asleep for a brief period, to renew its attacks 
with greater violence, until, in January, 1869, I became convinced that 66 
IIOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
no permanent relief could be found by the ordinary means employed 
in such cases, and I determined, by the advice of friends to apply 
to you. 
“I put myself under your care on the 22d of February, 1869, and, 
after three months’ faithful use of your mode of treatment, I am happy 
to say that my condition was greatly improved ; and I feel to-day, after 
eighteen months’ trial—though I have only used your remedies occa- 
sionally since the first treatment—that my condition is far better than 
I could have expected, and am enjoying a good measure of health. 
For the past year, I have not lost a day from my business on this 
account; I eat heartily of every kind of food that I am fond of, with a 
good appetite, and enjoy it with a good digestion ; sleep quietly; have 
had no bleeding for a year or more, and I flatter myself shall escape it 
entirely for the future. My general health has greatly improved, and 
my lungs, are free from the distressing sense of suffocation which 
formerly so oppressed me ; my nose and throat are free from irritation, 
and indeed, I may say, cured. 
“ I attribute my present comfortable condition, under God, to your 
skillful treatment of my case, though you did not flatter me with the 
promise of a perfect cure, as my case had been of so long standing; 
and believe that but for the use of your remedies I should long ago 
have been laid in my grave. Up to the period of committing myself 
to your care and skill in treating my case, I had been treated by all the 
usual internal remedies for relief, and the topical applications of mus- 
tard-plasters, blisters, cupping the chest with dry and wet cups, tartar- 
emetic ointment, etc., but only with the usual results of temporary 
relief. 
“ 1 repeat, that I take great pleasure in testifying to the fact, as I 
firmly believe that your mode of treatment, by medicated inhalation 
and the other remedies employed by you, is the only sure source of 
relief and ultimate, permanent cure of cases of diseased lungs, throat, 
and nose. 
“Very sincerely, your friend, P, Van Deuusen, 
“ Auditor O. dr3 M. R. W. Co." 
I have only space to add one or two more testimonials 
to this department of my little book. From a thousand 
letters of like character, I will take the following, as it 
has only been a few days since I heard from the writer, 
who is still in the enjoyment of good health. This lady’s 
case attracted a great deal of attention at the time it was 
treated, and many persons visited her, to satisfy them- ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
67 
selves, by personal, positive proof, of the verity of her 
statement: 
A Confirmed Case of Quick Consumption cured by Med- 
icated Inhalations, and remains cured for Seven 
Years. 
“Niles, Berrien Co., Mich., November 21, 1867. 
“Dr. N. B. Wolfe,—Dear Sir: When I think of the state of my 
health when I commenced with your remedies, and see now how I 
am, it seems almost impossible. No wonder my friends are surprised; 
they seem to think it will not be lasting. I tell them they do not know 
how well I feel. Last Fall, at this time, my friends expected to have 
laid me in my grave. Then the doctors said it was a confirmed case 
of Quick Consumption, and that I could,not be helped; but here I 
am to-day, nearly as well as I ever was. And thanks to you, my dear 
sir, for the good your treatment has done me; and I hope that many 
more will be brought to see that by medicated inhalations the lungs 
can be healed. 
“ Dr. Wolfe, you made a great mistake about my weight; you said 
I had lost flesh while using the treatment. I gained ten pounds the 
first month, and kept gaining through the whole three months. When 
I commenced your treatment, I only weighed a little over one hundred; 
now I weigh one hundred and forty. 
“ Well, Doctor, the people are coming to me from all directions for 
books and circulars of questions, and to learn all about you, and to 
see if I am really the woman that had the Consumption. They have 
got all my books, envelopes, and circulars, and every thing, only myself. 
I tell my friends I stand as a good witness. When they see me, they 
need no further evidence of the virtue of your medicine. 
“ A few days ago, there was an old gentleman came to see me, and 
said, ‘ Are you the woman that had the Consumption, and have been 
using Dr. Wolfe’s medicine?’ I told him I was. He said his daughter 
was said to be in the first stage of Consumption, and he came from a 
place called Brownsville, about twenty-five miles from here, to see if it 
was really true that I had received so much benefit from your remedies. 
I showed him my inhaler, and told him I was that same woman he had 
heard so much about, and said, ‘ I do believe, if you would send imme- 
diately to Dr. Wolfe, he would help your daughter.’ I gave him an 
envelope and a circular of questions that I had yet left. The man’s 
name is Northrop ; he has perhaps sent before this time. 
“ One of the books was sent to a lady in Ohio by one of my neigh- 
bors, to an aunt, who was said to have Consumption, and another was 
sent to the eastern part of this State. If my lungs ever trouble me 
again, I shall send to you. E. Metcalf.” 68 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
There are enough clergymen in the United States 
afflicted with preachers’ sore throat, to justify a half- 
dozen educated physicians making their treatment a 
special business. I have alone treated a thousand cases 
in the last twenty years, and there seems to be no end to 
this distressing malady. Among many letters of a like 
character, some of which I have published in “Medical 
Common-Sense,” showing the efficacy of topical treat- 
ment, the following is selected, because this talented 
young minister is well known, and the integrity of his 
statement will not be questioned by his friends: 
Preachers’ Sore Throat successfully treated by Medicated 
Inhalation—A Presbyterian Minister giving Testimony 
to its Worth. 
“ South Charleston, Clarke Co., Q., May 18, 1870. 
“ Dr. N. B. Wolfe,—Dear Friend: As a thankful patient, I am 
always ready to express my confidence in your method of treating 
those diseases to which you have given so many years of attention; 
and, surely, I am entitled to that confidence. 
“ For several years, I suffered with Catarrh in posterior nares, ex- 
tending into the bronchial tubes. During the Summer and Fall of 
1868, I suffered so extremely with it that it became evident I must 
either obtain immediate relief or abandon the ministry. I was prov- 
identially directed to you by a friend, who, when I saw him last, was 
considered beyond the reach of human help, but who has been restored 
to perfect health by the treatment you prescribed for him. 
“ I am now able to preach with comfort and ease, and to your suc- 
cessful treatment I am indebted. 
“ In October, 1868, I first took treatment, and very soon I began to 
feel the benefit of a direct application. At the end of the month, bloody 
and nauseous discharges from the nose ceased. I became stronger, 
and before midwinter weighed more than ever I did in my life. And all 
this without a particle or drop of medicine in my stomach. Most as- 
suredly I am persuaded that local treatment is the only rational method. 
As the respiratory organs become affected by a vicious atmosphere, it 
is reasonable to suppose that, when once affected, their convalescence 
may be secured by a ‘medicated inhalation’—if not, a change of 
climate is never necessary or beneficial. 
“ But I have nothing to do with argument. At the end of a month, 69 
ASTHMA, AND CONSUMPTION. 
I was in good health. To make assurance doubly sure, however, I 
took the second month’s treatment. I used about half of this through 
the Winter, to break up occasional colds, which in every case acted 
like a charm. 
“This past Winter I conducted a series of meetings alone, without 
help from abroad. They began on Christmas-day, and continued to 
about the middle of March ; and, with the exception of two evenings, 
I was engaged in public speaking over an hour every night. My only 
object in stating this is to show that your treatment of my case was 
successful. 
“ Now I am in good health, and as I look back to those days when 
I suffered so much from that loathsome disease, and find myself at 
present so well, I can not but feel grateful to you for that deliverance. 
“ I have recommended many patients to your care—many have 
placed themselves under your treatment. Some say they are well, and 
all say they have received positive benefit. 
“ Wishing you a long life of usefulness, ever your grateful friend, 
“ L. M. Schofield, 
“ Pastor Pres'n Church, S. Charleston." 
A Cautious Compliment from Rev. J. M. Reid, D. D., while 
editing the Western Christian Advocate. 
The following article is from the pen of Dr. Reid, 
and appeared in the editorial columns of the Western 
Christian Advocate several years ago: 
“ Dr. Wolfe’s ‘ Medical Common-Sense.’ 
“An honored friend and venerated minister has presented us-with 
a copy of this work, with an earnest request that we should recommend 
Dr. Wolfe and his remedies. Our brother assures us that the life of 
his son has been saved by the treatment, and refers us to other well- 
known friends, likewise benefited. . . . Dr. Wolfe has long been 
an advertiser in our columns, and our Book Agents have had consid- 
erable financial business with him. All his dealings with the Concern 
have been prompt and reliable. Of his system of treatment we know 
nothing personally, and can not therefore speak of his merits. Some 
of our best friends, however, repose great confidence in Dr. Wolfe’s 
remedies, or system of treatment, and have urged us to give them 
favorable notice. We have all confidence in Dr. Wolfe’s integrity.” 
The “honored friend and venerated minister,” al- 
luded to in Dr. Reid’s article, is the venerable John F. 1IOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
Wright, D. D., of this city. It was his son, the Hon. 
John R. Wright, who had suffered for years from men- 
branous degeneration of the fauces, larynx, and trachea, 
whose valuable life had “been saved by the treatment.” 
We deem it useless to multiply the testimony favoring 
topical treatment for diseases of the organs of respiration. 
Indeed, we have filled the prescribed limit in our little book 
for such matter. I have endeavored to disprove death to 
be the inevitable consequence of pulmonary disease, where 
the new treatment is employed. The folly of drugging 
through the digestive and circulatory systems for diseases 
of the nose, throat and lungs, has been practiced so long, 
that it claims exemption from criticism on account of its 
very age. To question the soundness of such practice, 
is simply to commit treason against the dignity and honor 
of the conservators of medical science. For doing so, 
every green gosling and gray goose, hatched from the 
stale eggs of Alma Mater, will viciously assail my reputa- 
tion, and cry, “Quackery.” I hope I have philosophy 
enough to endure this “music of the mandible” without 
complaining much. 
In conclusion, I have but a few words of “summing 
up” to offer: 
“Medicated inhalation,” it will be seen, is a system 
of treatment, not a class of remedies. To practice this 
successfully, requires skill, experience, and special study. 
In the hands of an educated physician, who has studied 
its therapeutics apart from the old formulas for prescrib- 
ing medicine—one who informs himself by close observa- 
tion and analysis of the action of medical vapors on 
diseased tissues—this system will unfailingly exemplify its 
superiority over the old stomach-dosing process. ASTHMA. AND CONSUMPTION. 
diopter XII. 
PERSONAL—BUSINESS—COMPENSATION. 
B||5 HAVE been treating diseases of the nose, 
jL throat, and lungs, with inhaled remedies, sim:e 
W 1848. Since 1853, I have made the treat- 
rnent of pulmonary disease a special practice; 
and eighteen years ago (1856), I made Cincinnati my 
permanent home and place of business. 
Since locating in this city, I have treated more than 
twenty-five thousand people afflicted with diseases in the 
organs of respiration. Of each of these I have the name, 
date of consultation, diagnosis, and the remedies em- 
ployed, all recorded in my case-books, and can at any 
time refer to them, if needed. To these witnesses, living 
and dead, I appeal, to testify to the value of a system 
of treatment which is claimed to be a benefaction to 
the race. 
When persons living at a distance desire to use in- 
haled remedies, they can do so by sending a statement 
of their condition for examination. To assist them to do 
this, I send them a printed list of questions, such as I 
would ask if they were present in person, to which they 
write answers. After I receive and examine the cir- 
cular, appropriate remedies are prepared, which, with 
instructions and the inhaler, are securely packed in a 
box, and sent, with all possible dispatch, by express, to 
the address given,—always at my risk. 
In this manner I have successfully treated thousands 72 
HOW TO CURE CATARRH, 
of people whom I never saw, and whose circumstances 
or condition would not permit them to consult me in 
person. Inhaled remedies are always used at home, and 
may be safely sent to all parts of the United States and 
Canada. 
MY COMPENSATION, 
For services, medicines, and inhaler, is as follows: 
For the first month, ...... $23 00 
For every subsequent month, . . .. 21 00 
For consultation by letter, 2 00 
In no case do I depart from my stated fees; and in 
all cases the fee must accompany the order for treat- 
ment, else the medicines will not be prepared. 
The facilities for sending money are so many and 
safe, that nothing but sheer carelessness on the part of 
the sender will expose it to loss. I therefore take no risks. 
Among thousands of remittances to me, through the 
money-order department of the post-office, by registered 
letter, in bank drafts, or through the old-established 
express companies, I have not lost a single package; nor 
has one miscarried when properly directed. 
When I receive the statement of the case and fee, if 
I think inhaled remedies are not appropriate, or the 
disease is too far advanced to be removed, I return the 
money to the sender, and with it my reasons for so 
doing. If treatment is decided upon, however, I imme- 
diately advise the sender by letter, and acknowledge the 
receipt of the fee, also state at what time the package 
will be shipped, and to what place addressed. 
Persons wishing a Circular of Questions will 
WRITE THEIR NAME AND POST-OFFICE ADDRESS IN FULL, AND 
INCLOSE TWO LETTER-STAMPS. 
Address Dr. N. B. WOLFE, 
CINCINNATI, OHIO. IF DESIRING IT FOR USE, DETACH THIS APPLICATION FOR TREATMENT FROM THE BOOK 
Application for Treatment. 
I 
ERSONS at a distance, whose condition or circumstances will not permit 
111 them to visit Cincinnati, wishing treatment by Medicated Inhalations, can 
Ii have the remedies and Inhaler, with full and clear instructions for using 
them at home, sent by express to any part of the United States or Canada. When 
other medicines are needed, such as constitutional remedies, to act in conjunction 
with Medicated Inhalations, in all instances I send them without extra expense 
to the patient; preferring to do so rather than run the risk of having them com- 
pounded by careless or uneducated drug-clerks, or the treatment tampered with 
by those entirely ignorant of my system of practice. In this manner I have 
treated thousands, successfully, for Consumption, Asthma, Bronchitis, Nasal 
Catarrh, Loss of Voice, and every other form of disease peculiar to the Nose, 
Throat, and Lungs. During treatment, I correspond regularly once a week with 
my patient, and keep a full record of the symptoms and treatment, in a case-l>ook 
for reference. 
COMPENSATION. 
For Inhaler, Medicines, Professional Services, and Correspondence, for the 
First Month, $23 00 
For Each Subsequent Month 21 00 
For an Examination of a Circular Statement, 
and a Written Opinion of the Case, without 
TREATMENT, 2 OO 
In all cases, the fee must accompany the order for treatment, and lie sent 
to me FREE OF EXPENSE. 
I have been treating diseases of the Respiratory Organs by Medicated In- 
halations twenty-six years, and have been located in this city eighteen years. I 
do not travel from home, and may at all times be addressed, or personally con- 
sulted, at my residence and office, 146 Smith Street. Some traveling vagabonds 
have made use of my name in different parts of the country, to impose upon the 
credulous and uninformed. Remember, no such professional tramps have any 
authority to represent either my system of treatment, or myself. 
My treatise on “Inhalation; or, Howto Cure Consumption, Asthma, 
and Catarrh,” will be sent, postage free, to any address, for twenty-five cents. 
To the poor, without charge. 
All letters should be addressed 
On, NT, B. WOX.FE, 
CiNciirirATi, Ohio. Write Answers to All the Questions. A Full Report is 
Always Desired. 
1. Write your name. 
2. Your Post-office address, giving County and State. 
3. Where is your nearest Express Office ? 
4. What is your age ? 
5. What is your height ? 
6. What is your present weight? 
7. What has been your weight in health? 
8. What is your occupation? 
9. Are you able to follow it now? 
10. Are you confined to the bed or house? 
11. Are you married, single, widow, or widower ? 
12. Have you lost any blood-relations by consumption ? If so, state who 
they were. 
13. Have you bled from the lungs? State when, how often, and what 
quantity of blood each time. 
14. Have you a cough? 
15. When is it most troublesome ? 
16. What quantity do you raise in twenty-four hours? 
17. Does the matter sink or swim in water? 
18. Is it ever mixed or streaked with blood? 
19- What color is it? 20. Have you chills, fever, or night-sweets ? 
21. Are you troubled with short breath or palpitation of the heart? 
22. Is your voice strong and clear? 
23. Have you pain in any part of your lungs? 
24. Have you lost the sense of smell? 
25. Has your breath an unpleasant odor? 
26. Are you subject to sore throat? 
27. Have you taken much medicine? State what kind. 
28. Do you use tobacco in any form? 
29. Do you use spirituous liquors? 
30. Do you drink strong coffee or tea ? 
31. Is your breast full, or sunken under the collar-bones? 
32. How many inches do you measure round the chest ? 
33. Can you strike your breast without exciting cough ? 
34 Can you hold your weight by your hands f 
35- Do your bowels move regularly ? 
36. A re you troubled with piles or fistula t 
37- To what cause do you ascribe the loss of your health ? 38. Are you subject to ASTHMA ? 
39. Is it preceded by sneezing, or cold in the head? 
40. At what season of the year is it most common to you? 
41. How long does a paroxysm last? 
42. Have you any sores on you, or disease of the skin ? 
FOR LADIES ONLY 
43. Have you a weak back, or pain under the shoulder-blade ? 
44. Are you regular in your monthly changes? 
45- A re they scanty, profuse, suppressed, or natural? 
46. At such times have you nervous or sick headache? 
47. Are you troubled with “ whites?" 
48. Have you given birth to children ? 
49. How many ? 
How old is the eldest ? 
50. How old is the youngest ? 
51. Have you recovered well after confinements? 
52. Are you nursing a child now ? 
53. Are you now enceinte? 
54. Have you had a tniscarriage ? 
55. If so, what was the cause? IF DESIRING IT FOR USE, DETACH THIS APPLICATION FOR TREATMENT FROM THE BOOK. 
Application for Treatment. 
at a distance, whose condition or circumstances will not permit 
Pthem to visit Cincinnati, wishing treatment by Medicated Inhalations, can 
have the remedies and Inhaler, with full and clear instructions for using 
them at home, sent by express to any part of the United States or Canada. When 
other medicines are needed, such as constitutional remedies, to act in conjunction 
with Medicated Inhalations, in all instances I send them without extra expense 
to the patient; preferring to do so rather than run the risk of having them com- 
pounded by careless or uneducated drug-clerks, or the treatment tampered with 
by those entirely ignorant of my system of practice. In this manner I have 
treated thousands, successfully, for Consumption, Asthma, Bronchitis, Nasal 
Catarrh, Loss of Voice, and every other form of disease peculiar to the Nose, 
Throat, and Lungs. During treatment, I correspond regularly once a week with 
my patient, and keep a full record of the symptoms and treatment, in a case-book 
for reference. 
COMPENSATION. 
For Inhaler, Medicines, Professional Services, and Correspondence, for the 
First Month, $23 00 
For Each Subsequent Month, .... 21 00 
For an Examination of a Circular Statement, 
and a Written Opinion of the Case, without 
TREATMENT, 2 OO 
In all cases, the fee must accompany the order for treatment, and be sent 
to me FREE OF EXPENSE. 
I have been treating diseases of the Respiratory Organs by Medicated In- 
halations twenty-six years, and have been located in this city eighteen years. I 
do not travel from home, and may at all times be addressed, or personally con- 
sulted, at my residence and office, 146 Smith Street. Some traveling vagabonds 
have made use of my name in different parts of the country, to impose upon the 
credulous and uninformed. Remember, no such professional tramps have any 
authority to represent either my system of treatment, or myself. 
My treatise on “Inhalation; or, Howto Cure Consumption, Asthma, 
and Catarrh,” will be sent, postage free, to any address, for twenty-five cents. 
To the poor, without charge. 
All letters should be addressed 
Or, Iff. WOLFE, 
O ITrCXTHSTATI, OHIO- Write Answers to All the Questions. A Full Report is 
Always Desired. 
1. Write your name. 
2. Your Post-office address, giving County and State. 
3. Where is your nearest Express Office? 
4. What is your age ? 
5. What is your height ? 
6. What is your present weight? 
7. What has been your weight in health ? 
8. What is your occupation? 
9. A re you able to follow it now ? 
10. Are you confined to the bed or house? 
11. Are you married, single, widow, or widower? 
12. Have you lost any blood-relations by consumption ? If so, state who 
they were. 
13. Have you bled from the lungs? State when, how often, and what 
quantity of blood each time. 
14. Have you a cough ? 
15. When is it most troubleso?ne ? 
16. What quantity do you raise in twenty-four hours ? 
17. Does the matter sink or swim in water? 
18. Is it ever mixed or streaked with blood? 
19. What color is it ? 20. Have you chills, fever. or night-sweats ? 
21. Are you troubled with short breath or palpitation of the heart? 
22. Is your voice strong and clear? 
23. Have you pain in any part of your lungs? 
24. Have you lost the sense of smell ? 
25. Has your breath an unpleasant odor? 
26. Are you subject to sore throat ? 
27. Have you taken much medicine? State what kind. 
28. Do you use tobacco in any form? 
29. Do you use spirituous liquors ? 
30. Do you drink strong coffee or tea ? 
31. Is your breast full, or sunken under the collar-bones ? 
32. How many inches do you measure round the chest ? 
33. Can you strike your breast without exciting cough ? 
34 Can you hold your weight by your hands? 
35- Do your bowels move regitlarly ? 
36. Are you troubled with piles or fistula ? 
37- To what cause do you ascribe the loss of your health ? 38. Are you subject to ASTHMA ? 
39. Is it preceded by sneezing, or cold in the head? 
40. At what season of the year is it most common to you? 
41. How long does a paroxysm last ? 
42. Have you any sores on you, or disease of the skin ? 
FOR LADIES ONLY. 
43. Have you a weak back, or pain under the shoulder-blade ? 
44. Are you regular in your inonthly changes? 
45. Are they scanty, profuse, suppressed, or natural? 
46. At such times have you nervous or sick headache? 
47. A re you troubled with “whites?" 
48. Have you given birth to children? 
49. How many ? 
How old is the eldest ? 
50. How old is the youngest? 
51. Have you recovered well after confinements? 
52. Are you nursing a child now ? 
53. Are you now enceinte? 
54. Have you had a miscarriage ? 
55. If so, what was the cause ?