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To  my Professional Brethren, of the Homoeopathic  School  of
  Medicine,
          Gentlemen :   In addressing the following pages
to your  attention, a brief  explanation  of the  inducements
that have prompted me to the act, is due alike to yourselves
and to me.
  It was my fortune, with so many others, to inherit, from
my birth, a taint of the disease here in question  ; and conse-
quently, upon my entry on  the study of medicine, I became
an anxious, as I felt that  I was  an interested,  investigator of
Phthisis Pulmonalis.   You need not be told how  fruitless all
my book researches were, in regard to the specific  cause of
this  frightful  scourge, nor  yet of the  utter absence, from
those books, of all, or any details  of curative treatment for
the disease, when developed; for in all this, your professional
education has abundantly well instructed you.
  This,  though a grave disappointment, gave no just  cause
to despair of knowledge, in this  direction,  since I had, as
yet, nowhere met with any  detailed attempt to apply that
great law, namely, Similia Similibus curantur, to the solution
of the questions in hand.  Upon that law my education ever
taught me to rely ; and  my  practical experience  gave me
daily evidence of the value and importance of that reliance.
  That  many of the tissues of the human organism are fruit-
ful  of perverted  secretions,  when disturbed  by diseased
action, is a fact familiar  to all.  Why, then, may not  this,
thought I,be the source of tuberculous deposit? This thought,
I pursued with patience and with zeal, through a long series
of investig ations. A s many diseased secretions were well known
to be controllable,  through the Homoeopathic law, it seem-
ed probable that tuberculosis, if it had its origin in this way,
could be both prevented, in its inception,and cured after devel-
opment. Without going farther into historical detail, suffice it
to say that I succeeded  in  establishing,  through repeated 
demonstrations, that tuberculous deposit, which  is the  in-
citing cause of death, from Phthisis Pulmonalis, is simply the
result Of A PERVERTED SECRETION OF THE MUCOUS MEMBRANES ; and
that this is equally true whether such perversion has  origi-
nated in the individual who is suffering,  or whether he has
inherited the predisposition, or taint, from his ancestry.
  This point settled, it only remained to prove how  far  the
great natural law, discovered by Hahnemann, could be made
available in the prevention, and  the cure of that most dread-
ful scourge, consumption, which is  but the  consequence  of
the deposits in question.
  As will be seen by the cases detailed,  in  the  subsequent
pages, my professional practice  has fully proved that this
law is amply competent, when properly applied, not only  to
stay and to cure the disease, in cases where  it  has not  yet
extensively broken down the  structure of the lungs,  but
also to so eradicate the tuberculous tendency, as to cut  off'
all  transmission  of  this  tendency,  by  inheritance,  to
posterity.
  Medical control of a disease which, while it has long been
deemed the chief  scourge of physical man, has been no less
considered both transmissable, by  inheritance—as  it  really
is—and incurable through medication, can rightfully be  the
exclusive  property of no one.  Such control  belongs,  in  all
justice, to the world at large ; and it is, therefore, in no vain
spirit of either authorship or criticism, that I make this  ap-
peal, through the press, to those who are laboring with  me,
for  the great end of relieving the sufferings of diseased  hu-
manity.  On the contrary it is made solely  for  professional
aid, in this great work, against  the common slayer  of  our
race.  In staying a malady which at present consigns to  the
grave nearly one half of the human family  that die within
the age of active life, little, indeed, can be done, by a single
individual; and it is in the hope, therefore, of enlisting your
common efforts, in this  unequal contest, that the  following
pages are addressed to you.
  The cases subsequently cited, while  they well  establish
what can be done, in the premises, I may hope will enlist the
active energies of  our profession in the gratifying labor that 
yields, to humanity, so glorious results.  So far as  possible,
I have furnished the details which aided in directing  me to
the desired success, but these are, of necessity, both few,
and indistinct  The law of cure, in  these, as in  all other
cases, is only capable of rigid application, through the guid-
ance,  alone,  of the symptoms of each individual patient.
Hence, while the drugs, for instance, employed in the cases
cited, are all named, yet the very diversity of these, that has
been  required in the cures, and the continually varying man-
ner of their employment, fully demonstrate  that no fixed, or
 empiric method can give success.   On the contrary, I repeat,
 that  in this,  as in all other forms  of disease, the symptoms,
 alone, can guide the practitioner in his prescriptions.  Not
 only  is this ever true, in regard to the selection of the drug
 to be administered, at a given time, but both the  potency of
 that  drug, and the intervals of its administration, are no less
 to be governed by the temperament and other peculiar  con-
 ditions of each patient—all which  can be  judged of  only  at
 the bedside, whore, alone, the application of the law of euro
 can,  in each individual case, be understandingly made.  This
 but conforms to all we know, everywhere, of the healing art;
 while it demonstrates,  anew, the futility of all random and
  all sibyline methods.
    I  repeat, then, that this hitherto justly dreaded flail of hu-
  manity, namely, Phthisis Pulmonalis, is none other than the
  result of a perverted secretion of the mucous membranes, and
  that, like so many secretions of other tissues  of the  human
  body, it is both controllable and curable, by the just  applica-
  tion  of that great law  of cure  which  was discovered by
  Hahnemann, and of which it is  the  business of our  lives to
  make  daily  application,  for  the  correction and the cure of
  disease, in whatever form.  It is  hoped, therefore, that the
  confidence  inspired by these  facts, will  secure the united
  attention of the Homoeopathic faculty; and that through such
  attention wc may ere long see mankind relieved from the in-
  fliction of its most frequent  destroyer of both health and
  life.
                                   R.  R. GREGG,  M. P.
    Canandaigua, New  York,  1«59. 
PREVALENCE OF  THE DISEASE.
  In order to embrace a just understanding  of the  subject
we  are about to consider, it seems necessary, in the first in-
stance, to determine, so far as we can, by the  statistics at
command, the proportion which consumption has  had, in the
work of death,  in  comparison  with the  agencies  of other
diseases.  For this purpose we  shall employ the tables and
other verified statements which reliable authorities have pre-
pared, and which are still preserved to us.  From these data,
as they stand recorded, by  most authors of reliability,  we
have this astounding result, namely, that  from  one fifth to
one sixth  of the  whole  human family fall  victims to this
disease !   Indeed there are not wanting those whose candor
no one is prepared to  question,  that  carry  this  proportion
still higher,  though we are  inclined  to treat all  such, rather
as extreme results than as a fair and general average.
  According to Dr. J. Curtis, the deaths  from consumption,
in Boston," Massachusetts,  during  the  twenty-eight years,
from 1821 to 1848 inclusive, were 5.76 of the entire mortality.
Dr.  Hayward, from an examination of the  statistics  of New
York, for thirty years,  gives the proportion,  in  that  city, at
one to a little more that 5.54.   In Philadelphia, according to
the tables of Dr. Emerson, the mortality, from  consumption,
for  the ten years from 1831 to 1840, inclusive,  was, to  the
total mortality, as one  to 7.03 ;  while in the ten  years pre-
ceding the year 1820, the proportion was  one to 6.38.  The
mean of these two periods gives one in 6.7 of the entire mor-
tality to consumption.  Dr. Condie has also furnished tables of
the mortality of this same city, specifying the  proportion of
the whole which has died of consumption.  His  tables  em-
brace ten years, next succeeding those  of Dr. Emerson, pre-
viously cited, and these give the mortality from phthisis,  at 
7
one in about 6.76 of those from all  causes—a proportion  so
slightly variant from the foregoing as to seem almost indica-
tive of a law.  Nor does the city of Baltimore differ essen-
tially from these, the tables there, upon the same  authority,
namely, Dr. Emerson, giving one in 6.2 of the whole number.
   The remarkable conformity of the tables  of these several
American  cities is scarcely disturbed  when,  crossing the
Atlantic, we consult the like tables constructed  there.  Dr.
Forbes has furnished the requisite statistics for Londou,
Carlisle, Plymouth, and the Landsend, in which  it  is shown
that the mean proportion of deaths, from phthisis, in these
localities, is one in 5.6 of the entire mortality.  This propor-
tion which pertains to  the  localities mentioned is but slight-
ly varied by the full statistics of England and  Wales.  The
third report of the Registrar General states that, for these
two entire realms, in the year 1839, the proportion of deaths,
by consumption, to the whole mortality, was one to 5.5.
   As it is impossible, in this country, for want of the neces-
sary records, to obtain such information as that upon which
we are here treating, except iu the cities, we are not able to
determine whether the proportion of deaths,  from  consump-
tion, among our farming population, is equal to  that of the
cities, but the strong probabilities are that it is even greater;
for  although  the  average duration of human life may be
somewhat greater, among  this portion of the American peo-
ple, yet the deaths from epidemic  and  contagious diseases,
must certainly  be proportionately far less  in  the country
than in the cities and large towns.
   The most appalling  feature,  if we  may employ that ex-
pression, with which our researches, upon this branch of our
subject have brought us in contact, we have encountered  in
the reports of some of the Life Insurance Companies.  In
these, one could scarcely be prepared to  find  even a single
case of death  from  consumption,  among  the assured.  The
iare that is observed, by Insurance Companies, in  the  selec-
tion of their objects of insurance ; the pointed scrutiny they
make into the health, both general and  particular, of the
party, and the means employed to compass full knowledge,
on these points, through the party's habitual  physician, &c, 
8
are well known, to all.  And then, in addition to all this, it
is equally notorious that the research is most particular  for
the slightest taint of consumption,wbich is,in all its forms.care-
fully, and especially pursued, in all these cases, not only as
regards the bodily condition of the party, himself,  but  also
as to the  possibility  of the disease being  derived to him,
through inheritance, from parental taint.  We say that after
all  this especial scrutiny,  one could  scarcely  expect that
even a transient death would be found to have been due to
consumption, among those upon whom Insurance Companies
had existing risks.  But the fact is far otherwise, as is shown
by such of the Reports of the Insurance Companies as  we
have been able to obtain.   From the Report of the Connecti-
cut Mutual Life Insurance Company, for the fiscal year  end-
ing on  the  31st of  January, 1859,  we   extract   the  fol-
lowing  :
 " There have been eighty-eight deaths during the year. * *  * *  Bat
consumption, the great  bane to Life Insurance Companies, has done its nsual
work, Ucenty-one having fallen by that insidious disease and  its kindred mal-
adies.  And the serious fact, that this fatal disease is creeping through the
system almost from birth, and so insidiously, that its incipient state cannot
bo detected, nor its confirmed one arrested or cured, should  be the greatest
inducement to persuade persons to embrace insurance, while  young, and
before any symptoms are developed, which though even slight, would render
them uninsurable."
  Here, then,  with all the caution which the officers of  the
Insurance company had been able to exercise,  even under
the stimulent  provoked by all prior experience, the deaths
from consumption, of  their assured,  for the  past year, have
been nearly one fourth part of the whole number ; while they
advise that from fevers, chronic or inflamatory diseases, &c,
the deaths have been  less than usual.
  The Reports of the New York Life Insurance Company, for
the years 1857  and 1858, show very similar results.  In the
former  year, of forty-five deaths of assured persons, nine, or
one-fifth of the whole  number,  died from  pulmonary con-
sumption ; while, in the latter  year, of forty-nine deaths,
eight, or one-sixth of  the whole number, were from the same
cause.  The Reports  of other companies, so far as we have
been able to obtain access to them, do not vary this general
result 
  VVc see, then, that these companies,  whose  business  and
Whose interest it is to guard against the admission to insur-
ance of every person in whom " the least  symptom of the
malady has become developed, or where the hereditary  pre-
disposition is, in the least, appareht," are still so far unable
to escape the danger which  they especially  seek to shun,
that from one fourth to one sixth of all their losses  are  due
to this single disease ;  while it is worthy of especial remark
that this proportion  of deaths,  from consumption, among
persons carefully selected for insurance, varies scarcely at all,
from that of the total mass of deaths,  among the general popu-
lation, of every variety of condition 1
  From the foregoing documentary evidence  We have the
fact,  then,  that  from one  fifth to one sixth of all deaths,
including those of every age and condition, is attributable to
consumption.   But even this proportion, large as it is, by no
means exhibits the full agency of this fell malady*  To know
this, from the whole mass of deaths We must deduct  the
great mortality of infancy, the lesser, but yet quite consid-
erable number  of deaths from old age, aud all those occur-
ring, at all ages, from  casualties, as not properly belonging
to the proportion We seek ; for in  none of these cases has
consumption been the agent, or cause, of death.
   The deduction of these  several  numbers from the total
bills of mortality, we make upon the best authority at com-
 mand.  The greatest number of these exceptional cases,  by
far, are children ; and of these we  assume  the age  of five
years and  under, as the  period of exclusion—it  being  well
known that consumption of the lungs does not prevail among
children under that age.  On  this point we rely, again, upon
statistics.
   In the city of Manchester, England, Dr. Dunglison reports
that, in the year 1840, there were  4,629 deaths,  among  the
laboring population, and that, of these,  no  less than 2,649,
or a little over  57  per cent, were of children under five years
of age.  Upon the same authority,  London, in a single year,
out of 23,525 deaths, gave 9,057—or about 38.5 per  cent—
as deaths occurring under five years of  age.  Paris,  in  the
year 1818,  records 22,421 deaths, of which 5,576, or  almost 
10
25 per cent, were of children under two  years  old.  The  re-
turns of American  cities,  though somewhat  scanty,  give
much the same result.  Dr. Dunglison gives the  returns of
Philadelphia, for ten years, from which it appears that 38.6
per cent of the deaths, in that time, were of children  under
five years old.  Baltimore gives a still larger proportion.
The deaths, there, for  four years, show that within a fraction
of 44 per cent of the whole number were of children  under
five years of age, without including in these returns the still
born of those periods. To the percentage of infantile deaths,
thus  shown, we  will now  add, for  deaths by old age, the
moderate sum of six per cent, and  for those by  casualties,
including the still born,  two per  cent, and we  shall have
within a fraction of fifty per cent of all the mortality,  under
circumstances where consumption  can have had no agency,
whatever.   From these details it follows that the whole mor-
tality, from consumption, falls with double force upon that half
of the human family which die of disease between the periods
of early childhood and old age ; in  other  words,  from one
third to one half of  all those members of humanity who are
in active life, are stricken down, by this  dire disease ; while,
in the language of Dr. Watson, its greatest havoc is "among
the most gifted and the most beautiful of the  human  race."
  And now, awful and desolating as these facts  prove con-
sumption to be, there is this other melancholy feature still to
add, namely, that the healing art, in the hands of the medical
profession, has hitherto been unable to point out any means
of exemption from the disease, and at best but doubtful  ex-
pedients for even a little temporary relief. 
NATURE AND CAUSES OF  PHTHISIS.
  In no department of Pathology have research and philoso-
phy been so exhausted as upon the nature and the causes of
consumption, and still in nothing have  results been  more
abortive and unsatisfactory, when we consider  the great
object of all this research, namely, the prevention and  the
cure of  the malady in question.  As usual, upon all subjects
where there is no absolute knowledge, there has been, upon
this, until a comparatively recent period, very great diversity
of opinion, causing,  of  course,  much controversy  among
pathologists in regard to both the points under consideration.
Latterly,  however, most have concurred  in  the   opinion
that  the immediate  cause of death, by  what is known
as consumption, is a deposit, in the lungs, of a curdy, friable
substance, of the firmness and consistence of cheese, denomi-
nated tubercles,  which, by their irritating  presence, cause the
lungs to suppurate, and so, finally, accomplish their destruc-
tion.   But the  origin  of this deposit,  and of course,  the
means of preventing  it,  these pathologists have hitherto  left
wholly  unexplained.   By a  kind  of  common  consent,  but
with no explanatory basis upon which  to rest  the position,
they now general^ attribute such deposit  to " depravation
of the blood"; but how this last is brought  about they  fail
to instruct us, except so far as this can be done through  the
profuse assumption of vague generalities.  That we may not
be supposed to have mistaken, or underrated the conclusions
of the most eminent  pathologists, we  shall here introduce
liberal extracts from these authors, themselves.   In treating
of the Pathological Anatomy of Phthisis, M. Louis says :
  " Dnring more than three years that we have carefully collected the history
of all the patients admitted into the Hospital of La Charita, in the service of
M. Chomel, we have not observed a single subject dead from phthisis, whose 
12
lungs  did not present, as the principal lesion, a greater or less number of
tuberculous excavations, tubercles, or of gray, semitransparent granulations;
so that onr own observations strengthen those of M. Laennec, and with us, as
with him, • the existence of tubercles, in the  lungs, is the cause, and consti-
tutes the specific character, of phthisis,'''
  So far is clear enough ; but  still our authors give  us  no
aid  in  determining the producing cause  of the tubercles
they so constantly found existing in the pulmonary structure.
On the contrary, M, Louis, when  treating  of the  causes  of
phthisis, expressly says :   " Our own observations have not
demonstrated  the cause of tubercles in  the lungs."   Such,
then, are the deliberate conclusions arrived at  through tho
investigations of two of the most eminent  pathologists who
have given their earnest attention to our  subject.
  Another valid authority, upon  this question,  namely, Dr.
Wood, goes a little farther  than the authors just  cited, but
still fails to give us a clear and  settled  conviction, in tho
premises.   His  language follows :
  " Phthisis does not consist merely  ip the deposition of tubercles in  the
lungs, and  its consequences. There  is, besides, a  morbid state of system
 which precedes  and attends the deposition, and upon which it probably
 depends.  This state of system is  commonly denominated the tuberculous
 diathesis or predisposition.  It is either identical with the scrofulous diathe-
 sis, or closely analogous to it, and has been sufficiently treated of, in a general
way, in the section upon general pathology.  In the present place, it is con:
 sidered  only  in its  relation to pulmonary  tubercles.  What  is the exact
nature of this diathesis is unknown.  It may consist essentially in  a certain
laxity of the tjssues, which leads to weakness or perversion of functions, so
that, instead of well elaborated material for the purposes of nutrition, there
is separated from the blood a peculiar product, of the lowest grade of vital
 force, with the tendency to degeneration fixed upon it, which exists as foreign
matter in the midst of the living structure.  It is possible that the blood,
 also, may be  in fault. The only defect, however, which has been  shown to
£xist in it, is a want of the due proportion of red corpuscles, and this defect
 has not been proved to be essential.  *  *   *  *  But, whether the blood is
 in any degree essentially perverted or not, this much may be considered as
 certain, in relation to the tuberculous  diathesis, that it is  accompanied with
 a reduction of the  vital forces,  below the  healthy standard; or, in other
 words, is a condition of debility.  What else  there may be cannot be told in
 the present state  of our knowledge ; though, that there is  something besides
 mere debility, is  sufficiently obvious  from the consideration, that  an equal
 degree of this condition often exists without any production of tubercle, or
 any apparent tendency towards it. * *  *  * What is  the natnre of this
 affection, denominated tuberculous disease, but of which the tubercle is a
 mere incident, though a very general, characteristic, and most important
 incident?  This question cannot be fully answered, in  the present state of onr
 knowledge.  We know that, generally, the vital energies are enfeebled, and
 the blood impoyerished or depraved,  Tt is highly probable that the tendency 
                             13
                                    \
to the tuberculous deposition is due, directly to the condition of the blood,
But the state of the blood must, itself, be dependent upon some deficiency or
depravation of the functions by which it is elaborated, and we are thrown
back upon some original vice in the organic constitution."
   Dr.  Watson, on  this subject, we  may not omit,   He says;
  " A good deal of discrepancy, obscuring the whole subject,  and  puzzling
the student, has existed—and I believe I may say still exists—among patholo^
gists, as to the nature, and origin, and precise seat of tubercles,"
   Our  author here digresses to consider the views  of Laen-.
nee, Andral, and Dr. Cars well, and  then resumes thus  :
  " Tubercles, then—or ratbar tuberculous  matter, is deposited  from the
blood. Whether it is something totally new, something foreign to the natur-
al materials of the body, introduced into the blood from without—or whether,
as seems more likely, it is the result of some defect or error in the due elabo-
ration of the blood, itself—I cannot satisfy you,"
   Dr. Good, also, deserves citatiou.   In considering our sub*
ject, he says :
  " Of the proximate cause of this predisponent diathesis we know nothing \
it is generally supposed to hare a near analogy to that of scrofula; and when
called into action it commonly shows itself in the form of the tubercular
variety;  the tubercles,  themselves, though not  occurring in a  structure
strictly glandular,  bearing a considerable resemblance to scrofulous indu-
rations."
   Upon the theory that attributes to inflammation the forma-
tion and  deposit of tuberculous matter,   in  whatever  organ
found, it seems unnecessary to dwell ; farther than simply to
say that, whatever position it might once have  enjoyed,  it
has now  been triumphantly refuted, by observed facts, which
have shown this to be, at most, but a  very rare, and  acci-
dental  cause.
   It seems unnecessary to pursue this branch of  our  subject
farther, since the foregoing citations, embracing the highest
authorities known to the  profession, must  be deemed  suffi-
cient, by all.  Without attempting,   or  even intending, one
word of criticism, which would be so wholly  foreign  to  our
purpose,  here, upon the opinions  and views established  by
the citations we have offered, we may be permitted to advert
to the utter vagueness and the wordy evasions that  charac-
terise some of the extracts that we  have re-produced, while
the candor of the authors of others stands conspicuous in
the avowals of their  want of all  knowledge,  touching  the
ultimate cause of the physical derangement in question.   In-
stances of illustration might seem invidious ; and therefore, 
                            14

suffice it to say that the reader will seek in vain, as we have
done, for any actual knowledge, in all the passages, upon our
subject, that we have been able to gather from  the leading
authors whom  we have quoted so freely.
  We come next to speak of the general predisposing causes
of phthisis, as these have been considered,  by  the medical
profession ; and here we find as  much  discrepancy, and,  on
the whole, as little satisfaction, as pertained to the question
of the specific  cause of tubercles.  Most authors do, indeed,
ascribe the disease to  inheritance ;  but this only  removes
the inception  one  or  more generations back, while it  adds
nothing,  whatever,  to  our absolute knowledge in the premises.
That phthisis is often inherited probably no one is prepared
to deny.  We  certainly shall not make that denial, for we
well know the  contrary to be true ; but while multitudes  do
so inherit this  disease,  we know equally well that we  daily
see persons suffering from consumption in whom no heredita-
ry taint can be traced  or discovered ;  while others,  again,
whose parents, one or both, have died of consumption, are
seen  to  pass through  a  long life, and finally die quietly of
old age, without ever having exhibited the least taint of the
disease.  It  is  well  demonstrated,  then, that  although
phthisis may be, and certainly often is, inherited, yet that it
may  also be equally well and perfectly developed, by  other
causes, is no less rigidly  established by the  experience  of
every critical  observer.   That occupations, moist  or  damp
atmosphere, Pneumonia,  Bronchitis, and some other diseases,
occasionally develop phthisis, and aggravate  it, also, when
pre-existing, either latent or active, is  certainly  true ; and
that  this fact has often procured these agents  to be  put in
place of the true cause  of consumption,  there remains  no
room to doubt.
   After passing much  more in  detail than we  have  done,
over the region just traversed, M. Louis sums up thus :
  " We do not intend occupying the reader's  attention by the enumeration of
the long lists of supposed causes of phthisis, believing that it is far better to
 be ignorant of the cause of a disease, and to avow this ignorance, than to refer
it slightly, and  without proof, to the action of influences  which in no wise
 contribute to its production.  In the latter instance we are wandering iu the
 dark, exciting unnecessary fears, and giving useless, if not dangerous, advice;
while, by withholding our decision we remain, as it were, on the defensive', 
15
and retain that state of mind which is favorable to the research and dis-
covery of truth.  Opinions have  too often acquired solidity by repetition,
rather than by the  addition of any positive evidence adduced in their sup-
port ; and it is so much easier to  cite the authority of names  than that of
facts, and to coincide in the opinions of others, rather than test their validity,
that it is not difficult to trace the inroads of those errors and absurdities by
which medicine is so obscured and retarded.  No branch of investigation has
more extensively suffered from the tendency to which we are alluding, than
that of the causes of disease.  Prejudice, superstition, and system have prin-
cipally labored in their creation, and it is the difficult task of the modem
 inquirer to extract truth from the crude and  amorphous materials  amassed
 by these powerful but deceptive  agents.  The importance, however, of the
 inquiry is immense, and if pursued with no other intention than the discovery
 of truth, will not only increase the sum of our knowledge, but exert a bene-
 ficial influence upon mankind at large."
    Finding, then, this  whole subject wrapt in such obscurity
 and doubt, and meeting with  no evidence or encouragement,
 from any quarter, that  phthisis could  be  cured, after the
 earliest symptoms had become manifest, we commenced in-
 vestigations,  as an interested party, for the  truth, under the
 application of that great  law  of nature,  Similia  Similibus
 Curantur,  which was  the discovery of Hahnemann.  Allo-
 pathy having confessedly  failed, as a guide to  either the pre-
 vention or the cure of phthisis, it only remained to determine
 whether this  law could furnish us  betier  results than  pro-
 fessional empiricism had taught us to expect,   The  success
 of our investigations has beeu such as to  prove the full do-
 minion of that law over this, as over other forms of  disease.
    Upon entering on  these investigations we had no theory to
 sustain, and we therefore took each successive step  without
 regard to the proceeding, until we had  accumulated a mass
 of important facts which exhibited certain relations  to  each
 other.  The first positive  fact* which  we encountered,  that
 seemed to poiut to the truth  we were seekiug was this,
 namely, that all boils, so called, which have a core that leaves
 a deep pit iu the flesh, after discharging, are none other than
 tuberculous matter, deposited in the areolar tissue, beneath
 the skin, or in that of the superficial muscles,  which acts as
 a foreign body, causing suppuration aud discharge, just as it
  would in the luug, or in other  tissues, with  the exception
  that each tissue, according to its nature,  would vary, some-
  what,  the time  and manner of that suppuration and dis-
 cbarge.  Our attention was first  directed to  this  fact,  an 
Hi
ttuvh, by the result of a prescription upon a patient, a youiig
lady of twenty-four years. In this person we knew there ex-
isted a strong,  hereditary taint  of  Consumption.  At  the
time the prescription was made  the  patient was  suffering
from a severe pain through the  left  lung,  with soreness,
cough, and considerable emaciation.  These symptoms had
been of some Weeks duration, during  all which  time their
severity had steadily increased.   When the case  came into
our hands, after due examination we  made a homoeopathic
prescription of Lycopodiitm, as the  drag  indicated by  the
symptoms, through the  law in question. The result we will
give in the patient's own words :
  " After I had been taking the medicine nearly two Weeks, I discovered that
there were hard lumps or knots in the muscles Upon my shoulder blades,
which proved to be boils, that were very painful, and which, when they came
to discharge, left pits in the flesh half to three quarters of an  inch in depth.
The pain and soreness of the lung were both relieved, as soon as the boils
began to form, while the cough subsided with the pain, and I ndver have had
any of the symptoms since, excepting  once a slight return of the pain after
severe fatigue and taking cold ; and this was promptly relieved* by the same
medicine;"
  That there Was tuberculous  matter  deposited  in this pa-
tient's  left lung, we  had not, at the time of the  examination,
nor have we nowr, the slightest  doubt; not  only from  the
indications of the symptoms, themselves, but also frofa  this
additional circumstance,  namely, that she had lost  two
brothers, within the two previous years, by consumption:  The
results of medication, in this case, all naturally  raised^  in
our mind, the question,  namely, what is  the relation here
apparently established, between tubercles in the  lunggj and
boils, of this character, upon the surface of the body ?  That
the appearance of the boils Was the signal of  relief,  to the
lung, and actually did relieve it, was here made a well  de-
termined fact: and  yet it was a fact not before known.  But
Btill the question, namely, what  is this evident  connection
between these tubercles and these boils, and what  its  spe-
cific nature ? remained an  open  one, for a long  time.  We
pursued the enquiry thus begun,  patiently, and  With care ;
and the impression at length became a strong one that the
two might  be identical, in their nature—differing  only  in
position—and that the medicine we had employed had excited 
n
Ihc absorbents to the degree  that they had  taken  up the
tuberculous matter from the lungs and deposited it in the
muscles upon the posterior surface  of the scapula,  where
its presence and suppuration could work no danger  to life;
The opinion thus formed has been constantly confirmed to us,
through  all  subsequent investigations,  until we have no
longer any remaining doubt or hesitancy in regard to its
absolute and settled truth.   The fact in  question,  then,  is
one that we unhesitatingly declare to constitute one  of the
fixed points of departure for the solution  of this important
problem;  This conclusion we have reached  through varied
forms of evidence. We have related  the production of boils,
through the agency of medicine, by  which the lungs were
relieved  and cured, as one  ; and this, we may add, we have
not done a few times, only, but iu very numerous instances;
 Of this process, reversed, we have, unfortunately,  almost con-
stant instances, whose testimony is no less valuable, upon
the point  in question ; though this can never be obtained
except through the  procurement  of ignorance and mal-
practice, whether lay or professional.  In  several  cases  of
 serious disease  of the lungs that we  have  been called to,
 where the structure of these had become badly broken down,
 by suppuration of tuberculous matter, so  that  the  patient
 was beyond all hope of recovery, we have ascertained, upon
 inquiry, that the party had suffered  severely  from  boils, im-
 mediately previous to the  appearance of disease in the lungs,
 and that they had healed these boils both with external applica-
 tions, made " to scatter them," as they expressed it, and with
 internal mild cathartics, in the vain hope of " purifying the
 blood."  The result, of course, according to the  now  estab-
 lished fact, as above noted, was that the tuberculous matter,
 which nature was striving to cast out of the system, through
 the skin, was thrown back upon  the lungs, and  must, of ne-*
 cessity, cause suppuration there, just as  any other foreign
 body would, if occupying the same position.   We  lost a
 brother  in  this very same manner, shortly  after we com-
 menced  the practice of medicine, but before we  had  become
 acquainted with any of these controlling truths.   He  had
 been ailing for  some time, owing, as  was supposed, to hav- 
18
ing overdone, in the harvest field.  Under  this  impression
he changed his  occupation, and soon became more healthy,
with manifest  increase of flesh.   Following this state  of
things a crop of boils appeared upon his neck and shoulders,
many of them very large, and all extremely painful.  We
saw him after he had  endured these for a time, and  found
him employing salves and plasters, externally, " to scatter
them," and crude sulphur, sarsaparilla,  &c, internally, " to
purify the  blood."   We advised,  then, against  this course,
as it appeared to us that his system was thus  ejecting  im-
purities, with the process of which, it might be  injurious to
interfere ;  although we certainly had  not, at that time,  the
slightest knowledge  that  the  then existing  state  of this
patient, had  the  most  remote connection with  consump-
tion.   This empiric treatment,  however, was continued, and
 resulted in a  perfect suppression of the  boils.  This was
 in March; and in  July following he  took a cold,  which
 promptly developed well marked disease of the  lungs, that
 could not  be  arrested,  and near the  close of the ensuing
 November he died of confirmed tuberculous  consumption.
 This is but a single case of the numerous parallel ones that
 we have observed where such  boils have  been suppressed,
 and have been promptly followed by consumption and death
 —often within the  period of a single year.   These details,
 added to  those  which we shall recite in the cases at the
 close of this pamphlet, all point to one  and the same  conclu-
 sion.  In  those cases it will be seen that patients who were
 laboring under tuberculous disease of the  lungs, which  the
  treatment we pursued  arrested, by causing  absorption of
  the tuberculous deposit in the lungs, and throwing it to the
  surface, where it  produced boils, were  thus  relieved from
  disease, and restored to confirmed health.
    Following up the investigation so happily accomplished,
  in the case of boils, we have now demonstrative  evidence
  that carbuncles are none other than these same boils;  of more
   gigantic size, indeed, but of the same  character, and having
   the same origin.  Like the boils in question, they owe  their
   existence to the  deposit of tuberculous matter—in  a  word,
   they are  simply tuberculous boils ;  and differ from these,
   only in their more extended dimensions, which  sometimes 
19
causes several openings to form for their  discharge, instead
of a single oue.  This, of course,  determines that the con-
sequences of external  applications,  to these,  will be  the
same as  those shown in the  ease of the boils, and which
need not, therefore, be repeated here ;  with  this difference,
that the evil results will be greater, and more speedy, in  the
 proportion of their augmented size.  A peculiar case of this
 we  recently treated.  The  carbuncle was  seated  in  the
 muscles upon the mastoid process.  Its progress was  slow,
 gradually extending  down  upon  the muscles on the side of
 the neck.  The patient's general health was considerably im-
 paired.  Every exposure was observed to check its develop-
 ment; when, inyariably, a severe cough and  soreness of the
 lungs, immediately followed.  When we medically  attacked
 these,with success,rencwed inflammation and swelling, in the
 carbuncle, was promptly reinstated.  Through  the earless*
ness of the patient, these changes were repeated more than
 once, but finally,  extensive suppuration and discharge of the
 carbuncle were  accomplished, which terminated  the case
 satisfactorily, leaving the patient with sound lungs, and  in
established health.
   Another  case,  equally as interesting  as  the above,  but
 which presented  a reversed  order of symptoms, we treated
 some two years  since.  This patient complained of severe
 soreness of the lungs, attended with cough, and at times,
 either with stitching or dull heavy pains, principally through
 the  right lung.   These symptoms  followed an attack of
 congestive pneumonia, aud  were of a number of months du-
 ration; when, through the agency of homoeopathic remedies, a
 hard lump made  its appearance in the muscles just beneath
 the left clavicle, which increased in size rapidly, and became
 a large carbuncle, having a number of openings, and reliev-
 ing the patient's  lungs markedly, as soon as it commenced
 suppuration.
   Other effects of this tuberculous matter,  when deposited
 in other tissues, are familiar to most of the profession.  De-
 posited iu the brain, as is often the case, in children, and old
 people, it causes inflammation,  and suppuration,  or softening
of portions of that organ.   Jt is  occasionally  deposited in 
20
the liver, when the result is abscesses ; more frequently in
the mesenteric glands, especially in children ; and in  these
last we have marasmus, or more properly tabes mesenteric*,
as the result.  The superficial glands, too, are often its seat,
especially those of the neck, and then " scrofulous sores" are
the consequence ; while recent research has created a strong
belief that fistula in ano, with all its distressing  consequen-
ces, is due to the deposit of this same matter in the areolar
tissue, surrounding the rectum.   In a word, this matter, ex-
isting as a foreign body,must produce inflammation,suppura-
tion, and tho destruction of portions of the adjacent parts,
in whatever tissue, structure, or organ it is deposited.
   Our attention is now to be directed to the inquiry, namely,
what is the  tubercle, and whence is it derived ?  These ques-
tions, we may suppose, have  long been standing ones,  in the
world ; for  while tubercles  have  annually carried off their
thousands of the human family, attention  to them has cer-
tainly not been wanting.  We found, however, in  studying
our profession, that no progress  had been  recorded, in this
direction.  We therefore resolved upon systematic observa-
tion.   The time spent, and the various  processes employed
in this research,  it is not necessary to detail here : suffice it
to say, we became finally convinced, that tuberculous matter
is always, in the first instance, poured out from  the free sur-
face of the mucous membranes, as a semUfluid, trapsparcnt,
gelatinous material, which hardens only by the evaporation
or absorption of its water, which originally constituted tho
greater  portion of its entire bulk.  A starting point thus
once obtained, it  was less difficult  to  reach the  producing
cause.  Tuberculous matter,  then, we can have no  doubt, is
simply a perverted  secretion of the mucous  membranes,
alone, which is thrown out as a consequence of an  irritation
or an abrasion of their surfaces,  by  disease, for the  most
part, but sometimes, also, by continued inhalation of fine par-
ticles of stone, iron,steel, &c,  as in the case of the dry grinders
pf cutlery, &c, as is subsequently more fully shown.   That
tuberculous matter is first secreted in a fluid, or at most, a
semi-fluid state,  it would seem must be self evident to   every
member of  the profession.  We  are aware, however, that 
21
this  has  not been so, and that there exists the authority of
respected names,  in  direct contradiction  to  our  position,
Wood, for instance, in  speaking of tuberculous  deposition,
holds this language :   " The matter, as first deposited,  may
be gray, semi-transparent, and hard, or yellow, opaque, and
rather soft.   According to  Laennec and Louis  the deposit
is onV/inaZfy of the former character, and afterwards  assumes
the latter"—by suppuration,of course. Bayle,Broussais,Andral,
Carswell, and others  are of the same opinion ;  and  yet  why
they were so, it seems impossible to divine.  It is  certainly
against all physiological laws that the  mucous  membranes
should  secrete  any  solid  substance,  whatever ; and  even
bone, as we all know, is first deposited in a semi-fluid  state,
and subsequently hardens, or ossifies, by the absorption of a
due proportion of the water contained in the original deposit.
Wilson, upon ossification, says :
  " Bone in its earliest stage, is composed of an assemblage of these minute
cells [referring to vesieles composed of a thin membrane containing fluid]
which are soft and transparent, and are disposed  within the embryo in the
site of the future skeleton. From the resemblance which the soft tissue bears
to jelly,  this has been termed the gelatinous stage of osteo genesis."
   From all we know, then, it certainly seems impossible, that
 the mucous membranes can throw out, or deposit anything of
 a solid nature.   But without spending  more time in  conjec-
 tures,  upon the subject, we may better come, at  once, to  an
 examination of this  tuberculous matter, itself,  in  its  origi-
 nally deposited  condition.  The substance is  then, almost
 as  transparent  as  water,  with  sometimes  the  slightest
 perceivable blueish  tinge, and  in  the most primitive con-
 dition  that we have met with  it,  it is not more than one
 third,  or one half  the  consistence  of ordinary jelly ; and
 it  is  then just  cohesive  enough not  to run, like the same
 quantity of water, but still sufficiently fluid to flatten  down
 when deposited upon any smooth and level surface.  Of this
 matter, we have examined masses from the size of an ordina-
 ry marble,  down  to that of a small pea, and even still  less ;
and this, not in a few, but in a great  multitude of  instances.
 In all these instances in question, we have never been able
to  detect any nucleus,  and we feel well assured there was 
                           ■)■}

none.  On the contrary, we ever found such masses perfectly
homogenous.   But, so soon as the  water they  contain  1h
sufficiently taken up, by  evaporation, or absorption, these
masses then solidify.geuerally.and perhaps always,into an ag-
gregation of minute granules, of globular form, and having a
dirty white, or  slightly  yellowish  gray  tinge, and of less
consistence than that of rich,  freshly  cut  cheese.   A  late
English author, namely, Dr. Carswell, it appears had observ-
ed nearly this same state of facts,  though,  as we find him
quoted  he  gives a somewhat  remarkable  explanation  of
them. His language, as given by Watson, is,
  '• That the mucous membrane of the air tubes separates from the blood,
not only the matter of tubercle, but also its own proper secretion : and that,
frequently,  when the two have been  poured out together, a dull, yellow,
opaque point of tubercular matter becomes set, as it  were, in a portion of
gray, semUransparent,and sometimes, inspissated mucus."
  Now the mistake of the observer, here, is  apparent, since
the " point of tubercular matter" could only  become "set" in
its own natural, transparent,  gelatinous pabulum,  without
an  admixture of any of the natural secretions of the mucous
membranes, or inspissated mucus proper.
   So far as our observations have been pushed, in  this di-
rection, this fact has been constant,  without  so much  as a
single exception, namely, that the nascent,  transparent, tu-
berculous matter, ever remains distinct from  admixture with
any other.  This may quite possibly arise from its cohesive
property  ; but be that as it may, we have never once found
it mixed, as before observed,  with  any other  matter,  even
when  accompanying such matter.  When  raised,  by a pa,
tient's  coughing, it will  often come  up without  anything
whatever with it, but when raised, as it often  is, in mucus,
pus, or any other material, it is invariably to be distinguished,
as  an unmingled and separate, transparent mass.   That this
material, is a secretion  of the  mucous membranes, is, with
us, a perfectly  settled conviction ; and, to a partial extent,
 at least,  Doctors Watson  and Carswell would  seem to sus-
 tain us in this opinion ; although, as seen by previous quo-
 tations, they endorse the error of all previous  and  cotempo-
rary writers upon this  subject,   namely, ^hat tuberculous
 matter, owes its existence to some defect of  the  blood, from 
                            23

which it is simply gejmraled^—not  secreted—by the  mucous
membranes.   Of tubercles the former of these says :
  " It used to be heltf that the tubercular matter was always laid down in the
areolar tissue. But Dr. Catswell asserts, that its  nlost  favorite seat, is the
free surface  of mucous membranes. In whatever  organ it is met with, if
mucous tissue enters into the composition of that organ, that particular
tissue is either exclusively affected, or much mote extensively affected, than
any of the other component tissues.  These remarks apply to the  lungs, the
alimentary canal,  the liver,  the urinary organs, and  the  organs of
 generation."
   That tuberculous  matter is secreted by the free surface of
mucous membranes, is certain, and that such surface is ever
its favorite seat, is Equally well ascertained.  It is unneces-
sary, then, to complicate  our subject, by assuming, in the ab-
 sence of all proof, that other tissues  are  implicated in  the
 original production of  this material, while we so well  know
 it  would  be  a violation of all disclosed laws  of diseased
 organism, for two different kinds  of tissue  to produce iden-
 tically the same morbid  product.  That tuberculous  matter
 does exist, in  the  areolar tissue, we  are fully aware ;  but
 that this tissue had any agency in the  original production of
 that matter, we deem  quite impossible.  This tissue  simply
 serves as a depository for the tubercle, when it has been ab-
 sorbed into the blood, or absorbent vessels,  from the mucous
 membrane, where it was produced, at  a time when the vitali-
 ty was too reduced to throw it to the  surface ; just as the
 areolar tissue of the   muscles, becomes the receptacle of this
 same substance, when the vigor of the system  is sufficient,
 either of  itself, or when aided by medicine,  to force such de-
 posit there, and from  which boils and carbuncles then ensue,
 as shown in the proceeding pages.   It is just  as  absurd  to
 suppose the areolar tissue, has anything to do with the origi-
 nal production of this matter, when it  is met with in the in-
 ternal organs of the human system, as  it would be to assume
 that such tissue of the muscles has furnished the like matter
 which is found producing boils and carbuncles, upon the sur-
 face of the body.
    Deeming it well established, then,  that  this tuberculous
  matter, is a morbid product  of the  mucous  membranes, our
  next inquiry, was  all naturally directed to the nature of this
 matter, and to its comparison with other diseased products. 
21
The subject, itself, was sufficient to excite a recollection of
What we had road and known of perverted secretions of the
other tissues, and to remind us that not a single one of these,
in the whole animal organism, is free from the production of
perverted secretions, under the irritation of disease.  Bone,
periosteum, cartilage, ligaments, muscles, glands, the integu-
ment, areolar tissue, serous membranes, vascular tissue, &c,
Ac, all have tlieir perverted secretions,  and each its own, p(^
culiar, morbid product.  The knowledge of these facts, and
the study and comparison of them, had their  share in first
directing  our  attention to the  mucous membranes, as the
source of tuberculous deposit,  The extent  and importance
of this tissue, in the structure and  functions of the human
organism, added probability  to  the early suspicion wc had
entertained, regarding the agency of it,  and  so contributed,
not a little, to the ultimate success of our research.
  Having established, therefore,  not by theory,  but by abso-
lute and demonstrative evidence, that tuberculous  deposit is
solely the perverted secretion of  the free  surface of the mu-
cous membranes, the fact  was  thus  rendered clear enough
that, to  prevent consumption, is but to  correct the diseased
condition which produces such secretion, whatever that may
be; while to cure consumption,after its appearance, and while
yet curable, is none other  than to  cause a re-absorption of
the matter already deposited;  It was familiar to us, as it is
to the profession, generally, that  dropsy,  morbid  glandular
products, tumours  of the  bones  and  muscles, warts, and
other morbid products of the skin, &c, are but  results of va-
rious  perverted  secretions ;  and  all these, under ordinary
circumstances, we well know to be curable,  through homoeo-
pathic medication.  And if this were true of these perverted
secretions, why not equally so of that other,  and chief one,
namely, the producer of consumption ?   Querying thus we
sought, in our practice, the answer  here  demanded—and we
obtained it.  And  now, after having both corrected tendencies
to this disease, where such existed,^ither through inheritance
or otherwise, and also checked the  disease,  itself, after its
positive appearance, in both cases restoring the patients to
perfect health, with no remaining  taint in the  system, and 
26
this, too, not in a few, only, but in a multitude of instances}
we no longer  hesitate  to  aver that this terrible  scourge^
namely,  consumption, may be wholly eradicated, in every
Community, where  competent homoeopathic  knowledge  ex-*
ists and is employed*
   We have next to  invito the reader's attention to some of
the agencies which incite to the production and deposit of
this tuberculous matter, in view of the advantages that may
arise from the prevention of such  deposits.  As already
shown, it is only under  the  irritation of diseasej or of some
foreign disturbance, that any tissue  can produce a morbid
secretion ; and of course it is only through such agency that
the natural and healthy secretions of the mucous membranes
can become perverted, and  produce tubercles.  It  is, then,
the nature and character of this diseased irritation that  we
Wish to understand.  As preliminary to this, it is necessary
to advert to a fact which our own observation has ever con-
stantly confirmed, namely, that it is the law of disease  to con-
tinue its action upon the  same,  or the  nearest similar tissue,
ivhen changing location,  wliether by artificial  procurement, or
otherwise.  If there is, apparently, any deviation  from this
 law, it  may be due, perhaps,  to one of these two causes,
 namely, serious complication, through drugged interference,
 or other bad management, or through the agency of the mor-
 bid product of the s«me or other diseased action, which, be-
 ing taken up by the  absorbents, is  subsequently deposited
 in some other tissue,  there causing the same mechanical  re-
sult that an3f other foreign substance, of tho same consist-
ence, inevitably would.  But Without some positive interfer-
ence, we have ever found the law  in  question strictly  ad'
hercd to, in disease.  For instance, in disease of the glands,
metastasis always  leaves the disease still acting upon  the
 glands ;  and this  is true, even where the  difference of sex
involves the necessity, as in the  case  of mumps, of seeking
such glands in different parts of the human  organism.  The
same is true of the synovial or serous membranes.   Inflam-
mation of  these, in the  joints for instance, in  inflammatory
rheumatism,  often  changes, without visible cause,  but is
much more frequently driven, by external applications, from 
2t>
one joint to  another, and again, from these to the heart,
where a similar membrane exists ; in this last case, causing
endocarditis, with thickening of the valves, and  consequent
hypertrophy and dilatation, or pericarditis, with  effusion  of
water—either  of which must result  in  death, or  serious
chronic disease of the heart, if  not promptly relieved.  Now
all this, although so very unlike, in absolute  appearance, is
really the same, in all these various forme; in other words,
it is  simply  inflammation  acting upon the  same class of
tissues, though in different parts of the system,  through the
unerring law of metastasis that we  have recited.  Again ;
the nervous system exhibits the same fact. Symptoms which
arise in one portion of this, when locally tampered with, will
appear in some other, as is almost daily seen  in neuralgia,
&c.   Phlebitis, also,  equally recognizes  this law, as, in  all
its changes of location this inflammation never leaves the
veins, for any  other tissue.  Bone, periosteum, muscles,  areo-
lar tissue, &c, &c,  all furnish  familiar illustrations of the
 same prescribed law.
   We have, thus far, purposely omitted to include  the  skin
and the mucous membranes, because we  desired to exhibit
 evidence of the law  in question from other tissues than these,
 in the first instance; and secondly, our subject requires  us to
 treat of these last two, in connection,  owing  to their  inti-
 mate relation to our  subject, no less  than to each other.
 Anatomy teaches us that  these two tissues,  namely, the skin
 and  mucous  membrane,  are  nearly identical  in  structure,
 the latter lining or covering the inner surface of all the cavi-
 ties  which open upon the surface of  the  body,  just  as  the
 skin envelops the external surface of every part of the sys-
 tem ; so that, in fact, the one is  simply  the continuation of
 the  other.  Wilson, in his  Anatomy, so treats them.  He
 says :
   " The skin is the exterior investment of the body, which it serves to cover
 and protect.  It is continuous at the apertures of the internal cavities,  with
 the  lining membrane of those cavities, the internal skin, or mucous mem-
 brane.  *   *   *  *  Mucous membrane is analogous to the cutaneous
 covering of the exterior of the body, and resembles that tissue very  closely,
  iu its structure.   ******  The epithelium is the epiderma
  of the mucous membrane.  Throughout the pharynx and oesophagus it re-
  sembles the epiderma, both in appearance and character." 
21
   But anatomicai identity, in these two tissues, is not  all,
here, for they may, in addition to this, be made to  exchange
physiological functions,  to  a certain extent.  We  quote
Carpenter:
  " It is interesting to observe, tfcat when a portion of the cutaneous surface
has been turned inwards, so as to form part of the boundary of one of the
internal cavities, (as in plastic operations for the restoration of lips, eyelids,
Ac.,) it undergoes a gradual modification in its character, and comes, after a
time, to present the appearance of an ordinary mucous membrane."
   The reverse of this, in regard to these two tissues,  is no
 less true ; for when a portion  of mucous  membrane, from
 any cause, is turned to the surface, it hardens   and assumes
the functions which belong to true skin.
   The close natural similarity, then, if not the  actual iden-
tity of these two tissues,  namely, the  skin  and the mucous
membrane being clearly established, we  are  now   prepared
to realize  that the diseases of the two, according to the law
last recited, must be similar, and that, therefore, the  metas-
tasis of diseases of the skin, whether  caused by external ap-
plications, which is most frequently the  case,  or  by some
iuternal action, as  is not  unknown, must, of necessity, be
to the mucous membranes.  This gives us, when thus seated,
some form of what is called constitutional disease—the precise
 nature of  which being determined,  of course, by the mucous
surface which is attacked.  Were it necessary further to
fortify the position here assumed, it would be  easy to estab-
lish it, in  the most positive manner, in regard  to a variety
of cutaneous diseases, by the authority of the  most accredit-
ed  allopathic observers.  We  might cite, for instance, of
these diseases, the small pox, measles, scarlatina, erysipelas,
herpes, elephantiasis,  urticaria,  lepra, &c; and with these
the details, in full, of  Watson, Wood,  Duuglison, Patterson,
frregory,  Macintosh,  and  others,  in  regard  to them, from
which the  most direct and reliable  evidence can be drawn,
to sustain  our position  in its fullest extent—that if these
diseases do not act upon the skin they will upon the mucous
membranes—but to what possible purpose ? All which these
authors have carefully done, in this way, is familiar to every
well read physician, of whatever school; and so  is the degree
of weight  which  is  accorded to each  name  cited ;  and it 
28
therefore seems wholly  superfluous to  cumber our pages
with what every student has read, and the same  that physi.
cians, generally, possess in their professional  libraries.   To
the diseases here named we may add a few less prominent,
but more familiar disturbances, and with them the  nature of
their action, as still showing the same constant relation  ex-
isting between these two surfaces,  in their diseased  mani-
festations.   When any of the more common diseased actions
take place, upon mucous  membranes, as, for instance, attacks
of influenza, coryza, catarrh, coughs from  colds, or any of
the minor disturbances of the  air passages, such are at once
relieved, on the appearance of an eruption upon the outer
Surface of the lips.   These last are usually known  as  " cold
sores"; and their appearance is simply the result of the metas-
tasis of disease, under the guidance of the law in  question,
from the mucous membrane to the skin, which is a similar
tissue.  All forms of fevers, if recognizing as their seat  the
rnucous membranes, are relieved, at once, by the appearance
of any rash upon the skin, boils, sores about the mouth, &c.
Again : attacks of indigestion,  diarrhea, or any of the ordi-
 nary derangements of the mucous membrane of the alimen-
 tary canal, always cease  when  there  is a rash  thrown  out
 upon the skin ; and it is not unfrequent,  especially  with
 children, that spontaneous, cure speedily follows the appear-
 ance of such rash.
   We have cited, by name, a very few, only,  of the  cutane-
 ous diseases that constantly afflict humanity ; but all these,
 collectively, and as types of the numerous and entire family
 of skin diseases, teach us the important lesson, namely, that
 jf we do not allow diseases of the skin to act  upon the sur-
 face, they will act upon  the mucous membranes ; simply be-
 cause disease will continue its action, until it is eradicated,
 upon the same tissue, or that most nearly allied  to  it; and
 as muGous membrane is the only structure analogous to the
 skin, it must be upon this that the  disease  will  spend  its
 force, if driven, by  external  applications, from the   skin.
 Would  any physician,  in treating  small  pox,  measles, or
 scarlatina, attempt by topical  applications to  suppress the
 eruptions which these diseases force out, upon the surface ? 
29
Certainly not; for not only all such, but all  nurses and  all
mothers know that such a course of treatment would  result
in the certain death of the  patient.   But the  same parties
who so well know this, do not hesitate to  make  these very
applications, in  cases of  the  " itch," " Bcald head," " salt-
rheum," &c„ although death is  directly  invited,  by  such a
practice, in these cases, no less than in the others. In short,
the law we  arc  considering  holds equally true of all skin
diseases—whether pustulous, squamous, papular, or vesicu-
lar—as of any individual one ;  and therefore language can-
not be too pointed, when used in  condemnation of the mur-
derous usage of suppressing chronic skin diseases practiced,
generally, and we may say almost universally, by those who
assume, as their peculiar designation, " regular physicians,"
It is true that in some of these diseases,  under such treat-
ment, death would be more prompt than in others; but where
that is the case, the time gained  is usually one of protracted
misery,  often  ending in  some  one of the worst forms of
disease to which humanity is subject.   The suppression of
the " itch," for instance, will  not, ordinarily, produce death
as promptly as would the  suppression of the small pox ;  but
the " itch" sends its thousands,  every year, to  the  grave,
through consumption, produced by the suppression  of that
eruption, by topical  applications that are made with tho
 knowledge, and  usually under the direction, of the victims*
 family physicians I
   It is  now more than  half a century since Hahnemann
taught the  dire effects of treating skin diseases by external
 applications.  He nowhere taught the law  of the metastasis
of disease,  as we have here exhibited it, but he  showed, by
multitudes  of cases, all collected from the  most accredited
allopathic authorities, and running through a period of some
two hundred years, that  asthma, consumption, dyspepsia,
epilepsy, insanity, idiocy, and, indeed, all the most dreadful
diseases with which humanity is familiar, are  produced by
this suppression  of eruptions from the skin ; and yet this
 same branch of the profession, which has furnished the  evi-
denco of such terrible results from its own professional er- 
30
rors, is as heedless, to-day, of the awful inflictions which its
mal-practice is daily fastening  more  firmly  upon mankind,
as if it supposed no moral obligation or duty were naturally
attached to its chosen calling.   Of such mal-practice, by so
called  physicians, after reciting near two hundred horrible
results from suppressions of skin  diseases, all  drawn from
allopathic books, Hahnemann earnestly says,
  " This kind of treatment is the most pernicious,  the most infamous,  and
the most unpardonable mal-practice  of which allopathic physicians have
made themselves guilty.
  He who is blind against the wisdom which the above quoted examples
teach, willfully prepares the ruin of mankind."
  But,  as before observed, the  effect  of such suppressions
may not become immediately apparent. On the contrary,
the disease thus suppressed, may even lie dormant,  in the
system for many years after the  suppression ; as long, in
fact, as the vital force of the individual  system—this vary-
ing greatly, of eoursc,  in different  persons—is   sufficiently
vigorous to keep it under ; but when this power is no long-
er sufficient to accomplish that result, then the  disease  re-
appears, in some form, and, in  due time, completes its work.
This is often exemplified in children, when the digestion and
nutrition are very active, and the  vitality is vigorous.  Such
a child may have an eruption suppressed, and it  will often
lie dormant through the whole   period of youth ;  but when
this is passed the nutrition becomes less active,  and  conse-
quently changes in the tissues  are effected more slowly, and
with less vigor, while the disease is thus afforded  more op-
portunity for fixing itself upon some of the mucous surfaces,
and developing itself more or less  rapidly, there,   in  accord-
ance with the degree of resistance it  may encounter, from
the repellant power of the  vital  force.   This may be, and
quite probably is, the reason why so many more  die of con-
sumption,  between  the ages of twenty and thirty  years,
than during any other decade of human life.   The power of
resisting injurious forces is gradually lost, as the nutrition
declines in activity, and hence  an  eruption suppressed in in-
fancy,  or early childhood, may  now, for the first time,  arouse
from its dormant condition, simply because there is no  longer
a power in the system, as there has been,  sufficient to hold 
31
it in subjection.  Probably, however, in a majority of cases,
the eruption continues in an active form, to a certain extent,
either upon some of the mucous membranes, or  is  thrown
back  upon the skin,  where  it  re-appears  as a cutaneous
disease of  the same or somewhat changed character-^being
usually received,  in  either case,  as a new disease, to  be
" cured," of course, as the previous  one  had been ;  that is,
by suppression, without  curative action.
   In  all cases, when these diseases commence  their work
upon  the mucous membranes, whether it is immediately after
their  suppression, or after they have aroused from a dormant
condition of any number of years duration, the result is the
same, and as follows :   The mucous  surface is  under a con-
stant state of irritation from the  presence of the disease,
which causes in the first instance, an increase of its  natural
secretions, then an abrasion of the epithelium, and a perver-
sion  of  the  character  of  these  secretions,  which  become
viscid and tenacious, and finally assume the  nature  of true
tuberculous matter.
   There are other facts  which   present themselves for con-
sideration, here.  Diseases of  the mucous surfaces are  often
acting upon the mucous membranes of different organs, at
the same time ; as we often see the stomach,  bowels, &c,
manifesting well marked symptoms, at the very time when
the lungs are  most markedly diseased.  But another, and
still  more  important fact is this, namely, that such  disease
is frequently transferred from the mucous membrane of one
organ to that of another.  This we often witness in cases of
dyspepsia.  Parties thus afflicted will continue to suffer from
well marked dyspeptic symptoms, for a longer or shorter pe-
riod,  sometimes extending even many years, when,  finally,
the greater force of the  disease becomes concentrated upon
the lungs, and they ultimately die of pulmonary consumption.
We have met, in our own practice, several cases  of  disease
of the lungs that followed  upon  the suppression of either
acute or  chronic—a  portion  of  each—inflammation of the
eyes,  that  had been  accomplished by the application of
washes, ointments, nitrate of silver, &c.  In all such cases,
there  being no curative action  established by the  treatment, 
Hie only result obtained was a transfer  of the  diseased ac-
tion, by driving it in, upon some other  mucous membrane j
and'this is most frequently that of the lungs, as there is ex-
treme sympathy existing between the mucous surfaces of the
eyes and lungs* as we constantly witness, in  cases of colds,
&c.  Again: coryza, generally known as " cold in the head,"
whether it be  chronic or acute, follows the same law.  If
this be disturbed, by any local treatment, whatever, it moves
downward, out of the way of that which disturbes it. Speak-
ing of the inflammatory irritation causing coryza, catarrh,
ifcc, Watson ^ays :
  " It sometimes travels from one part of the membrane to another.  Begin-
ning, for example, in the nose, it gradually creeps down into the  windpipe
and lungs.  Sometimes the inflammatory condition passes from the throat
into the eustachian tubes, and produces deafness; or down the gullet and to
the stomach, causing qualmish, or other uneasy sensations, and loss of  ap-
petite.  And occasionally this order appears to be reversed. There are some
persons  who will tell you that whenever anything disagrees with their
stomachs, whenever dyspepsia is produced, by some error  In diet, they  are
Bure to have catarrh."
   There is a natural tendency,  then, for this  disease to travel
down upon the lungs ; and iu  view of this,  what  shall  be
thought  of that  system  of medical  practice  which treats
these  diseased manifestations with  local  applications   of
 catarrh snuff, cold water, either salt or fresh, snuffed up the
nostrils—in short, with any astringent  or stimulating  local
 applications, when the tendency of all such is  so well known
 to be to drive the  diseased  action to  other localities, and
 that, too,  without the least possible  power  to produce one
 particle of curative effect ?   It is simply doing  all  in  our
 power, under the circumstances,  to drive  the  disease  down
 upon the lungs, and seat it, permanently there, for future de-
 velopment, in the form of confirmed consumption.  The same
 is true  of all the  cases of  chronic  " sore  throat."  This
 disease is one of the  mucous  membranes,  again ;  and  the
 practice—as  irrational as  it is barbarous-—of  treating it
 with gargles, cauterization, &c,  without any  curative result,
 whatever, drives it down upon the mucous membrane   of the
 larynx, trachea, or bronchial tubes, where, by its  action, tu^
 berculous matter is poured out, which  soon  becomes  " set/'
 while  the quantity  is constantly augmented, by continual 
33
accretions, until inflammation is .lighted up, speedily  to be
followed by  ulceration and death.
  Although  the suppression  of  chronic cutaneous  diseases
has, as we have seen, so fearfully  extended an agency  iu
producing pulmonary consumption, yet there are  other in-
centives to this disease, that we must not overlook.  Defect-
ive treatment of some of the acute  cutaneous  diseases has
often  terminated  in consumption,  and the  death of  the
patient.  Such results have been caused by not throwing the
eruption fully out upon the skin, and  then  curing  it there ;
in which case the remaining taint, settling upon the respira-
tory organs, after an indefinite period, results in the deposit
 of tuberculous matter there.  This result we frequently wit-
 ness,  as following after measles.   Persons " badly cured,"
 as it is called, of  this disease, often go into what is termed
 " a decline," with cough, &c, which soon passes to confirm-
 ed consumption,  with  its usual  consequences.  Cartarrhal
 attacks, too, often owe their origin to the same  cause ;  and
 probably few practitioners have failed to meet such cases,  in
 the course of their professional duties.
   As remarked, upon a previous page, mechanical  irritation
 of the mucous membrane  of the lungs, if persisted in, will
 provoke the deposit  of tuberculous  matter.   Thackrah,  as
 quoted by Dunglison, upon this source of consumption, com-
 ments thus :
   " No agents excite tubercular development more  than irritation of  the
 bronchial membrane.  Much, I conceive, depends on the size and figure of  the
 particles which enter the air tubes. The dust from the roads  produces no
 apparent mischief, while  the mason's drippings from the stone, occasion
 Berious, and often fatal injury to the lungs.  The dust from old iron, which is
 thrown off so copiously as to deposit a thick brown layer on the  dress of  the
 dealers in this article, produces no inconvenience, while the  less apparent  de-
 tachment of particles from the file is decidedly baneful, to the workers in
 iron.  It is the form,  rather than  the material, the spicula, the angular or
 pointed figure of the particles detached, which we conceive the chief cause
 of injury. The bronchial membrane is mechanically irritated, or wounded ;
 and from the daily repetition of this injury, the lungs at length become seri-
 ously diseased, and a vast majority die consumptive."
    Dr. Alison, another observer, in this direction, states,
   " That there is hardly an instance of a mason, regularly employed in hew-
 ing stones, in  Edinburgh, who lives free from phthisical symptoms to the  age
 of fifty."
    While, of the steel workers, Mr, Kuight avers that, 
34
  " At Sheffield the fork grinders, who grind dry, so that the particles are
readily received into the air, do not reach the age of thirty-two."
" Also in Berri, in France, there is a village in which almost all the inhabitants
follow but one profession, that of making gun flints, and according to M.
Benoiston de Chateanneuf almost all these persons die of phthisis, or at least,
few pass the age of forty without affording evidence of tuberculosis."
  We have purposely placed  these  authentic  evidences  at
the close  of our section upon the causes  of consumption,
that we might the better fix that attention upon them which
their importance demands.  The statements, themselves, no
one  will  pretend to  doubt, but, on the contrary, they are
fully sustained, by all observers, everywhere ;  while  the  im-
portance  of them, to the question here  in hand,  cannot be
overrated.  They all relate, solely, to the mechanical  produc-
tion of  consumption ;  and it  is this point  upon which we
wish, here, to concentrate attention.  The victims  enumer-
ated it  will be observed, all pursue some one of certain spe-
cific callings ; and these people  die of consumption—not as
individuals, but as entire bodies, and that, too, regularly, in
successive generations.   And why ?  It is not from  hurtful
attitude of  body, or want of exercise, or close and confined
air that these callings kill all who follow them.   Yet all  die
young,  and of one specific disease, and that is consumption!
And  the  authorities  cited tell us why this  is  so, while  the
experience of all, attests that the  reason given  is  the true
one.  All authorities and all experience agree that it is  the
particles  of iron, steel, stone, &c, with which  the labors of
these people fill the air they breathe, that causes their  dis-
 ease and death.  These particles are drawn into the lungs at
every breath, and by their constant irritation there, provoke
the deposit of tuberculous matter.   Now let it be distinctly
observed  that these particles, thus brought  into the lungs,
with the  air, neither do, nor can, come in contact with  any
surface, except  that of mucous membrane ;  while their con-
tinuedly irritating presence, upon that  surface,  invariably
produces  disease,  not various  and  dissimilar in kind, but
ever one and the  same, and that one, consumption!  That
individuals  who have inherited the  pulmonic  taint, have
 sometimes had the development of that taint hastened, by
such inhalations, it seems reasonable  to suppose ; but that 
35
all, or nearly all, of a few given callings should  die young,
and of this particular disease, can be  ascribed to no other
cause than the one assigned.   But  the  strange  feature  of
this whole matter is, that much as professional skill  has ob-
served and attested the facts here exhibited, and extendedly
as  able  men have written upon  these facts, no reasoner
should have hitherto seen the demonstration which they furn-
ish, namely, that tuberculous matter, which, alone, causes  con-
sumption, is always a perverted secretion of the mucous mem-
branes. 
TREATMENT AND CURE OF PHTHISIS.
  The reader being now supposed to have  become  familiar
with the source  of tuberculous matter,  through diseased
action upou  the  mucous membranes, which  matter is con-
fessedly  the sole cause of Phthisis  Pulmonalis, we come
next to speak of the treatment, cure and  prevention of this
disease.
  Until some clue could  be had to the nature of this destruc-
tive malady, and the incipient  nature of  its  attack, all  at-
tempts at combating it were like shooting in the dark, and
all pretences to a knowledge of its  cure or prevention, but
the most  arrant absurdities.  To be sure, consumption  has
been generally known to arise from the deposit of tubercu-
lous matter,  in the lungs.  But  whence came this  matter ?
and what the agent of its production ?  While these ques-
tions remained unanswered, in what direction was the prac-
titioner to look ?  The deposit in the lungs was clearly  but
a consequence ; yet how was  this to be  stopped, so long as
nothing was known  of it, before it was found thus deposited
there ?  That it was the result  of diseased action, somewhere,
was, of course, clear enough to all; but there was little  aid
to be looked for from this self-evident fact. It may be claim-
ed that diseased action produces symptoms, and that medi-
cal men,  and especially  Homoeopathists,  who rely  so much
more upon symptoms than those of  any other school, should
therefore, by  seizing upon  these, have  been guided to  a
knowledge of what  they sought.  Symptoms there certainly
ever have been, that we now know belong to incipient  con-
sumption ; but from the isolated nature of their appearance,
they have long been mistaken for local ones,  only, appearing 
37
detachedly, and thus not readily giving any indication that
they had anything to do with depositing tuberculous matter,
or with any connected or  grouped result, whatever;  But
these isolated symptoms are now better  understood.  Not-
withstanding their often apparent dissimilar character, yet
when carefully traced and compared they  are now found to
indicate diseased action upon some one or  more of the mu-
cous membranes, which action results in producing the tuber-
culous matter which is subsequently found deposited in the
lungs.  Fortified, therefore, by this accretion of knowledge,
the practitioner  may now feel that his subject is disencum-
bered of its doubt and uncertainty, and that his efforts need
no longer partake of uncertainty or equivocation.
   But still, every practitioner well knows how  utterly im-
possible it is to give anything more than  the  most  general
directions for the treatment of this, or of any disease *r and
this chapter, therefore, notwithstanding  its title,  will,  of
necessity, deal much more in principles, and in generals, than
in details ; while we should deem it quite deficient did it not
hold up to rigid condemnation  certain  practices that have
been suggested by past ignorance, as  curative,  in this dis-
ease, and which have grown into use, to a most alarming
 extent.
   That the treatment, in consumption,  as  in  all other dis-
 eases, to be eminently successful, must be Homoeopathic, in
the  strictest sense, need not be urged  upon any one who  un-
derstandingly believes  in the  Hahnemann law.,  In this,
more, perhaps, than in most other chronic diseases, each case
is peculiar in itself, having an  order and combination  of
symptoms which  is seldom, if ever, strictly repeated ; and
its successful treatment, therefore, involves the  necessity of
as thorough  and intimate a knowledge of both  the patho-
genetic and therapeutic action of medicines  as  can be  ob-
tained from the now existing sources of Homoeopathic intel-
ligence.  The mere opposing a symptom of the disease with
a corresponding  pathogenetic  symptom of a medicine, will
avail nothing.  The likeness must be  perfect, throughout ;
and then the response, from the system, will be effectual and
durable, in all cases where the patient is still  within the 
38
 reach of medicine ; while in cases that have already passed
 beyond this, mitigation of suffering will be attained—which
 is all that could be then looked for.  It is clear,  then,  that
 the whole history, and all the  symptoms of  any individual
 case must be intimately known to the attending  physician ;
 while he must necessarily possess that  minute  knowledge
 of the homoeopathic Materia Medica which will enable him
 to prescribe accurately, at all times, at  the bedside—where
 his discrimination must enable him to discern when  the last
 remedy has accomplished all it can, in the individual case,
 and also what prescription is next demanded, by the existing
 state of things.
   The exact state or condition of each case, when  first un-
 dertaken, and the progress which the disease has then really
 made, is of much importance.   If tuberculous deposit has
 not yet commenced, though the symptoms point to its  early
 advent, our medication must then be wholly directed to the
 restoration of health in such mucous membranes  as we find
 diseased.  With diseased action farther  advanced, we find
 the deposit of tuberculous matter already begun.   In this
 condition of things—with tubercles already in  the lungs,
 and a farther deposit of these,  of  course,  constantly going
 on—the case is more complicated.  We have  then two re-
 sults, instead of one, to accomplish, through medication. In
 the former case, we have  only the diseased condition of the
 mucous membranes, which, as yet, only threaten  to deposit
 the tuberculous matter, to control, and these organs to re-
 store to health, by which we avert the threatened deposit of
 that matter ; while in the latter instance we have, also, be-
 side this restoration of  the mucous membranes, to deal  with
 what deposit of tuberculous matter has already taken place.
 This matter is to be removed from the lungs,  through  medi-
cation that will cause it to be absorbed, and finally carried en-
 tirely out of the system.  And both these results are attaina-
 ble, through proper Homoeopathic medication, in all cases where
 the breaking down and destruction of the lungs, by  the deposits
 already made in them, has not reached that  point where enough
 healthy  lung is not remaining  to sustain Nature through the
process of cure. 
39
  This is certainly accomplishing much ; indeed  it  is all,
individually, for the patient ; but the  power  of  medicine
stops not here, and therefore the physician may  not.  That
tendency to the diseased condition which terminates in  the
production of the secretion known as  tuberculous matter,
all the world is aware, is hereditary ;  and that  thousands of
the children of  consumptive parents annually die of the pul-
monary taint with which they came into the  world.  Indeed
it is to this fact that Death owes a large share of his annual
consumptive harvest.   Now this inheritance it is in the pow-
er of Homoeopathy to break, and  forever destroy. A con-
stant and understanding application  of the  law of Hahne-
mann will accomplish this, even to the extermination of  the
disease,  in inherited form.  If any shall deem this position
 an extreme  one, let them not forget that inherited  consump-
 tion is none other than the inheritance  of that tendency to
 diseased condition of the mucous  membranes,  which,  when
developed, produces tuberculous deposits.  This  is the con-
sumptive taint which  is derived  from  ancestry ; and it is,
therefore, a simple chronic ailment, more remarkable for  the
 time it may sometimes require for its  eradication, than for
 any serious obstacle it will fiually present to its  ultimate re-
 moval.   A thorough and  appreciating knowledge  of the
 Homoeopathic  law, and a judicious application of this, as in-
 dicated, by existing symptoms, whether these  are  constant
 or changeable, are alone required to ensure success.
   In the matter of the attenuations of the drugs to be em-
 ployed,  and the intervals of  their administration, it is quite
as impossible to establish rules for these as  it is thus to
direct the selection of the drugs, themselves.  All this must,
of necessity, depend  upon the judgment of the  practitioner,
formed at the bedside of his patient,  and dictated, in each
individual instance,  by the peculiarities which that case
presents.  There is, however, one  general rule, that will  be
found useful, in regard to attenuations, since it is one which
applies in all other cases,, no less than in these.   It is simp-
ly this, that the finer the physical organization of the patient,
the higher the attenuations required ; while  the  more gross
forms of organism are to be treated  with remedies less re- 
40
moved from the primitive  drug.  This  rule,  all else being
equal, we have ever found to hold, in all our practice.
  The intervals of  time  between the repetitions  of  any
medicine is a matter of high importance, and  requires  the
most rigid scrutiny, as the life of the patient  is  constantly
hazarded, when this point is neglected.  The chief  danger,
here, is in drugging over much.  Great care  should be ta-
ken that, in no case, a medicine be  repeated  until the  pro-
ceeding dose has fully expended its action.  It is in this way,
only, that the requisite action can be obtained for  the ab-
sorption, and final removal from the system of the  tubercu-
lous matter, after its deposition.  The effect of too  oft re-
peated remedies, in this case, is  an irritation of the tissue
encroached upon by the tuberculous matter, thereby actually
hastening  suppuration  and ulceration of the lungs,  for in-
stance, just as the suppuration of boils is often hastened by
the administration of silicea, hepar sulphur, phosphorus, &c.
  These facts are sufficient to  show  that  it  is no  routine
method which we are attempting to exhibit, for the  cure  of
this most serious malady, but on the contrary, a method de-
manding, throughout, a thorough knowledge of anatomy and
physiology, with  a  full appreciation of  the  pathological
changes to which the animal system is subject, in order to a
full comprehension of what pertains to phthisis  and what
does not; and above  all, such  knowledge of the pathoge-
netic and therapeutic effects of drugs  as will render  the
practitioner competent, at all times, to select the medicine
indicated.
  Diet and exercise, being  auxiliaries  to  treatment, must
not be overlooked.  With reference to the former,  it seems
unnecessary to say more than that patients under treatment
for  consumption must be well sustained, with  the  most nu-
tritious and easily digested food ;  avoiding,  at  all times,
while under treatment, all  food or  drinks  containing  any
medical properties, such as condiments, acids, &c,   in  this,
as in all other diseases.  The subject of exercise,  however,
requires to be more duly considered.  It has  been a  favorite
hobby, of the allopathic profession, from the days  of Syden-
ham, to recommend exercise on horseback, or in carriages 
41
 without springs, to consumptive people, as a curative measure/
 Whence such an idea could have been derived, it is impossible,
 now, to know ; but whatever its origin has been, the full de-
 structive tendency of it, to say nothing of its extreme absurd-
 ity, could not be realized, so long as the cause of consumption
 remained hidden, as it ever has, from the allopathic school.
 Both the fatality and the absurdity  of this shaking up, or
 jolting of the lungs, as  a curative process, are fully exhibited
 to us, by the knowledge we now have of  the  origin of the
 tubercles found in the lungs, and elsewhere.  We  have seen
 that  it is diseased action of the mucous membranes which
 causes the secretion, by these  membranes, of  tuberculous
 matter; which matter is  the  sole  cause of consumption.
 Now, to prevent this secretion, the mucous membranes that
 are making  it, must be restored  to health—when,  of neces-
 sity,  the secretion will cease.   Now, will any one  pretend
 that  riding on horseback, or in  carriages without springs,
 will restore  these mucous  membranes to health ?   It is im-
 portant, here, to introduce the fact, namely, that  in consump-
 tion, except in its  latest stages, we have no generally diseased
 condition of lung to deal with.   In  other words, this organ
 has no destructive* disease upon it, in consumption, save that
 which is produced by the local irritation of foreign bodies—
 namely, the  tubercles—which are  lodged within it.  All its
 disease, then, is local, not general.  In the case of a boil, or a
 carbuncle,  produced  by the deposit of this  same  matter,
 there is a local inflammation lighted  up, in the muscle where
 the sore is situated, which proceeds to suppuration, and thus
 a portion of  the muscle is destroyed, but all this while, the
 adjacent parts remain perfectly healthy and uninjured.   It is
 the same  with the lungs.  They have no general diseased
 condition.  While the tuberculous deposits are few, the por-
 tions of lung, between  these, and  beyond their immediate
vicinity, are constantly in a healthy condition/  and it is not
until  the deposited tubercles become so numerous, and so
  * The diseased irritation of the mucous membrane of the bronchial tubes,
which causes the secretion of tuberculous matter, would not be, in the least,
destructive to the lungs, if this product was not allowed to remain, and be-
come " set," where thrown out, but was cleared away as fast as formed. 
A'l
near together, that the inflammation lighted up by each, can
extend to that which is produced  by the adjacent ones, that
the lung ultimately becomes a mass of disease, through the
final joining together of  these multitudinous  suppurations.
But with diseased  lung, from any cause, or in any condition
of .disease, nothing  but the  most disastrous results to the
patient can ever be hoped for from riding on horseback, jolt-
ing in wagons, or  any other  like  violence ; for there is no
tissue, in the  whole human organism, whose texture is more
delicate and  pliable, and none  which is constructed with
reference to their respective  parts  moving  upon each other
with such facility,  as the lungs ;  and yet  we find a  whole
body of medical men overlooking these important facts, and
all the common sense to which they point,  and advising the
suffering victim of consumption, whose lungs are loaded, it
may be, with tuberculous masses from the size of a mustard
seed to that  of a hens' egg, to  resort to  violent exercise,
when at each  jar which his body receives, these  numerous
masses, being non-organized bodies, all act mechanically, as
dead  weights—owing to their greater  specific  gravity—
upon the delicate parts which sustain them, and by this irri-
tating strain, serve to extend inflammation and suppuration,
and so hasten death.   " Exercise before breakfast," is another
destructive monstrosity, the recommendation of wnich comes
from the same authority.  In such case all  the nourishment
that had been taken  the previous day, has been applied, dur-
ing the night, in repairing the waste of tissues,  and conse-
quently there  is no remaining  nutritive material  in  the
stomach, upon which an  exertion  can  be  supported.  This
obliges the system to draw upon itself,  and this, with  the
effort of the  exercise, exhausts it so much  that there is not
sufficient  vigor remaining to digest a meal, and the patient
is therefore doomed  to suffer  through the entire day, from
indigestion.
   Exercise, be it understood, we consider beneficial, in its
proper time, manner  and quantity ; but it must be only when
the patient is properly able, and in  fit condition to take it;
and then it should be either on foot or in the most easy riding
carriage—and always in moderation^ 
43
  Change of climate, is another constant  resort of the med-
ical profession, as a recommendation to consumptive patients.
The  motive for this  is  not easily divined,  unless  it be a
desire of the practitioner to get off his hands a patient whose
disease  he is  unable to arrest.   Certain it is that this allo-
pathic prescription furnishes no better encouragement, either
of exemption from attack, or of relief from actual suffering,
than is obtained from  the remaining practice  of the  same
school.   A great  deal has  been written,  in  favor of the
assumed benefits of such change,  and much reliance has been
traditionally placed upon that assumption, but  confidence in
the fallacy—for such it  really is—has, of late,  materially
declined.  Even the authors of  the school which first  gave
currency to the idea, are now beginning to repudiate it as a
manifest evil.   The following  remarks of Dr. Dunglison upon
this subject, are both sane and sensible :
  " A cold, damp, and variable climate,  like that of Great Britain, is con-
ceded not only to give the predisposition, but to become an exciting cause
of the disease ; yet it prevails, to a like extent, in many of the more dry, less
cold, but scarcely less variable situations of southern France and Italy ;  and
it is fearfully rife in many parts of  the torrid zone, where none of  these con-
ditions of climate are met with."
   Again, of the climate of Southern Europe,  and its effects
upon the consumptive invalid, he continues :"
  " Yet Italy is the sanatarium to which so many hundred  invalids have been,
and are, annually sent,—doomed, too often, as Sir James Clark has observed,
to add other names to the long and melancholy list of their countrymen, who
have sought, with pain and suffering, a distant country, only to find in it an
untimely grave.  The climate which Sir James Clark esteems best suited to
consumptive patients, generally, is that of Madeira; and this is the opinion
of most of the British physicians."
   In contradistinction from this, Dr. Morton,  upon the  cli-
mate of this Island, is at the pains  to say, that:
  " Notwithstanding this uniformity of temperature, no malady is more prev-
alent in Madeira, than pulmonary consumption."
  Another authority, Dr. Gourlay, upon the climate  and dis-
eases of this Island, says :
  " Persons of all ages, and of both sexes, fall victims to it; nay, whole fam-
ilies have, at times, been suddenly swept  away by it."
  The experience of  invalids  from our  country, resorting
thither in search  of health, we believe  fully  sustains the
character which Dr. Gourlay here gives  to the climate of this
Island, at least so far as it applies to its benefitting  effects, 
44
in cases of consumption.   No relief, so far as we can learn,
has  ever  been  derived,  in  such cases, by a resort to this
Island, notwithstanding  the favorable theory of Sir James
Clark in  regard  to  it.  Nor has the  climate of the Ueat
Indies been found any better.   From the  British Army Re-
ports we learn, that:
  « Nearly twice as many cases of consumption originate among the British
troops, in the West Indies, as at home.  Twelve per thousand of the aggre-
ntoMtfb of tbe troops serving in the West Indies, being attacked annu-
Iny while  of the Dragoon Guards, serving in Great Britain, the ratio is only
Snd a half per thousand.   *   *   *   *    The disease is of more
frequent occurrence among the black than the white troops.         ^  ^
   Here, then, we are shown that consumption not only origin-
ates  in' the West Indies,  as  elsewhere, but that it is devel-
oped among foreigners, residing there, to nearly double tho
extent it is in their native  homes.   St. Augustine, Florida,
has been long and extravagantly lauded by the popular voice,
as a salubrious and desirable climate for the resort of north-
ern invalids.  Yet if  we may rely upon the reports of Dr. L.
V. Bell, Dr. Morton, and other  still more recent writers, we
must suppose this a very undesirable resort for those afflicted
with phthisis, in whatever stage.   Dr. Morton, as quoted by
 Dunglison, in writing of Florida, says :
   " The winter of this place is occasionally mild and equable  throughout,
 but for one suoh winter, I am informed that there are three, which present a
 reversed picture. The late Dr. C. of this city, he continues, was induced by
 his friends, to pass  the winter of  1829—30 in  St.  Augustine.  The winter
 proved of the most favorable character, and he returned home, in the Spring,
 surprisingly improved in his general health. This fact induced not only him-
 Belf, but many other invalids, similarly affected, to pass  the following winter
 at the same place.   But, in ljeu of the mild climate of the previous  year,
 there was an almost constant prevalence of a damp, chilly, North-East wind,
 so deleterious in its  effects as to destroy many of the invalids collected there,
 and irreparably to shatter the feeble frames of others. Adverting to Europe
 the Doctor continues: If we were to make exceptions to every place where
 phthisis exists as a common disease, there would  be scarcely a locality left in
 Europe, in which the invalid could shelter himself."
    So  extensive  and so  positive is  the  testimony  that  has
  been accumulated, in favor of the absurdity of sending off
  consumptives to die in Southern climates, away from home,
  friends, and the common comforts of  invalid life, that there
  has been something of a reaction in the professional, no less
  than in the public mind, upon  this  subject;  so that  now,
  substituting a  new absurdity for  an old one,  the  cold  and 
45
cheerless regions of the far North, are beginning to be selected
as the most suitable  temporary residence for that class of
persons, whose only remaining hold upon life, is constituted
of the comforts and the quiet of home.
  That change of place and scene, have sometimes been ben-
eficial, to such as were declining under the onerous burdens
of business, the exhausting effects of severe study, the har-
assing weight of domestic afflictions, or the still more des-
olating  scourge of ennui, is certainly true.  Such relief, we
repeat, there has been, and will again be ; but it comes not
of climate or of air ;  and it matters nothing, other things
being equal, to what  particular resort parties shall betake
themselves, who seek relief from such maladies  as these.
But, in regard to consumption, itself,  all testimony concurs
 in this, namely, that  it is  every where, and that, too, irre->
 spective of  the contingents of climate ;  and all attempts,
 therefore, to escape its presence, or to arrest its progress, by
 flight, or by migration, can commend themselves to us only
 as vulgar superstitions, the natural offspring of that prolific
parent, irrational fear. 
CASES OP PHTHISIS CURED.
   In- reporting the  following  cases  from  our  practice, as
patients  cured of consumption, we have selected such only,
as present the most undoubted evidence of their character.
We could easily swell the list with a great number of other
cases, with less prominent, though to us, as positive  symp-
toms of incipient consumption, which we have cured, both in
persons who did, and those who did  not inherit the disease ;
but we prefer giving to all such  the  benefit of  a doubt, and
relying for our purposes here,  upon  those only,  which are in
every respect unmistakable.
                          CASE  I.

  This patient, a young lady in her sixteenth year, of nervous-bilious* tem-
perament, inherited consumption from both parents, and when we were called
upon to treat her, in  July 1853, she was suffering  from the following symp-
toms :  A severe deep hollow cough, which followed upon taking cold, and
had been of nearly a year's duration.  There was considerable expectoration
of nascent tuberculous matter, crude tubercle &e„ attending the cough, and
very severe stitching  or darting pains much of the time, through both sides
of the chest, with a constant dull  heavy pain through the left lung. Auscul-
tation and percussion, revealed the existence of tubercles in the top of both
lungs, some of  which must, unquestionably, have suppurated, as there was
extensive pneumothorax existing in the left chest, which, from the  history
of the case, must have been produced by a tubercle or tubercles ulcerating
through to the surface of the lung, as there was no other way of accounting
for the presence of air in the pleural sac.  Chills, fever, and night sweats, had
been harassing  the patient most  of the time, for a number of months; and
emaciation had steadily progressed from the first invasion of the cough.  The
chest, shoulders and arms, especially, were greatly emaciated. Menstruation,
which commenced at the age  of  fourteen, and  was in every way natural for
nearly a year, had now been suspended for four or five months.  The appe-
tite was poor, stomach  not much deranged, and bowels alternately consti-
pated and relaxed. Great  languor and debility had been constant attending
symptoms, since the  cessation of menstruation.
   Treatment. -It must be  apparent to all, that in a case like the foregoing,
there was no time to  be lost, consequently it was only after the most careful
  *We make use of the names of the temperaments, here, as they are employed
in the old classification, for the reason that they are best understood but nev-
ertheless think them, in part, essentially wrong. 
47
examination and comparison of the symptoms, that we decided upon the"
selection of Kali Carb. as the drug indicated by th« totality of the symptoms,
The result was prompt and satisfactory, as the worst symptoms began almost
at once to subside, and the improvement was quite rapid, and without inter-
ruption for the following three months, when menstruation reappeared, which
speedily put an end to all remaining symptoms.  There was no other medi-
cine but the one above  mentioned, required at any time in the treatment of
this case, except  Nux Vomica and Pulsatilla, which were given a few times
for derangement of  the digestion.  The pneumothorax, which all authorities
agree in stating to be the most serious complication that can arise in such a
case, was  entirely relieved, and the patient has, up to this  time, now about
six  years, enjoyed uninterrupted health.   As soon as the lungs began to be
relieved, a number of small boils made their appearance, and these were con-
tinued in successive crops for over a year.   The eyelids were a favorite seat
of these boils, forming there what  is so commonly called " styes," and ter-
minating only with the restoration of  perfect health and strength.
                          CASE   II.

  Annnmarrried man, aged  thirty years, of nervous-sanguine temperament,
who  inherited  consumption from his father, had had an attack of severe
cough every spring, for a number of  years in succession, each return of it/
being more severe than the preceding attack, until it began to assume a very
formidable character.  The year before  we Were  called  upon to treat  this
patient, he had been unable to attend to business, for nearly the entire sum-
mer, but he recruited considerably through the fall and winter, only, a:s it
Beemed, to be the more seriously attacked in the ensuing spring.   At the time
we took charge of this  case it presented the following symptoms:  A very
harassing cough, which was almost constant, and without expectoration, ex-
cept at times, each day, when there would be a severe paroxysm of coughing,
terminated  by raising one or more crude tubercles of the size of a pea, with
some frothy tenacious mucus, which would give some relief, but was sure to
be followed in a few hours, with a succession of the same symptoms.   The
patient was considerably emaciated,  and was troubled at times with night
sweats. Digestion was not much disturbed; bowels constipated.  There was a
deposit of tubercles found, by auscultation and  percussion, existing in some
of the larger bronchial tubes, but there was no more  suppurationof these, dis-
covered, than enough to loosen them, so that they were coughed up.
   Treatment.—Lycopodium and Bryonia, were the only remedies used in this
case, and they were sufficient, to entirely relieve all of the symptoms within
the course of a few weeks, and the patient has never had the slightest return
of them since, although nearly six years have now  elapsed since we treated
the case.
                          CASE   III.

  This was a case of phthisis hiryngea, in a married lady, aged forty-six years,
of bilious-nervous temperament.  She had been under allopathic treatment
for a number of months, and her disease was pronounced incurable, by her
attending physician.  At tiiis juncture, we were called upon to take charge of
the case, and found it one in which little encouragement could be given of an
ultimate cure.  Occurring  as it did, immediately subsequent to, and  prob-
ably in consequence of, " change of life," we looked upon as a circumstance,
of very unfavorable bearing.
  Symptoms.—There was the greatest debility existing in this  case, which we
remember ever to have witnessed, in  any similar disease.  The simple  effort
of raising upon one  elbow in bed, or talking a little in the  lowest  tone  of
voice, would often bring on utter prostration, which it would require hours  to
rally from.  There was an almost continual short hacking cough and hawking
through  the day, which was attended with an expectoration of frothy, yellow
and gray sputa.  The cough was not troublesome at night, and there were no
Bevere paroxysms of coughing.  Soreness of the throat, extending down into 
48
the larynx and trachea, was a prominent symptom.  There were no stitching
bi darting pams through the chest, but the greatest degree of weakness and
Uti/ue complained of through the stomach, which extended from  there  into
theSper part of each lung.  Chills, fever, and night sweats, were fast wasting
IS mu7r°main ng strength of the patient, although these had but recently
mfde their appearance. T'he appetite was very poor, and part of the time
Sere was a troublesome diarrtea. We could  detect no ulceration except
what existed  in the larynx and trachea, but  there it easted to an alarming
degree, judging from the quantity and character of the expectoration.

  Treatment—This case, if cured at all, might be expected from  the symp-
toms, the age of the patient, and the peculiar time in life at Which the attach
occurred  to  require a long and discriminating treatment,   Recovery was
Kradual/it being over a yeaF before we succeeded in perfectly restoring the
patient, but this resdlt  was finally accomplished, and since that time, now
about four years, she tells us she has enjoyed a state approaching nearer to
health, than during the previous thirty years.  There was a good many differ-
ent medicines employed in this case, by reason of the multitudinous changes
in the symptoms;  but our chief  reliance  was  upon Pulsatilla and I/ycopo-
dium
                          CASE   IV.

  A married man, thirty-eight years of age, of sanguine nervous tempera-
ment, inherited consumption, and had lost one brother in the way he himself
was now going.  His condition was as follows:  He was very liable  to take
cold, even upon the slightest exposure, and this  would always bring on a
severe lingering cough, attended with extreme soreness all through the lungs,
which resembled, according to his description, the soreness of the throat, so
peculiar to consumption in the last stages of the disease. Always with one
of these colds there was a disposition to hectic fever, with that  scarlet red-
ness of the cheeks, which is so characteristic of disturbance of the lungs by
tuberculous matter.  He had received treatment of  different kinds for these
symptoms, but it gave no particular relief at the  time, and no protection
against subsequent attacks, in fact these increased in frequency and severityt
until he  was taken down with the  most violent attack, from which he had
ever suffered.  At this time we were called to treat the patient, and found
him suffering from what might, with propriety, be termed a scrofulous inflam-
mation of the entire  mucous membrane of the lungs. There was severe
Cough night and day, sometimes constant and dry, then again, in violent par-
oxisms, which would be terminated by raising a quantity of very tenacious
mucous, and nascent tuberculous matter.  The cough at all times, was attended
with a deep soreness or sensation of excoriation throughout the  entire chest,
which the  patient complained of as very  distressing.  There were no lancin-
ating  pains. The accompanying fever, partook of  the character of a low
grade of hectic, exacerbating in the afternoon, and continuing until morning,
entirely perventing  sleep during  the paroxysm, and then subsiding with
clammy prespiration.  A great aversion  to food  existed, and some of  the
time there was a bad diarrhea.

  Treatment—After  the exhibition of several remedies, in succession, for the
purpose of inducing a  more defined series of symptoms, rather than as cura-
tive agents, the symptoms became settled and distinct, giving clear and posi-
tive indications that Mercurius Solubilis was the remedy required.  The result
of the administration  of this medicine, showed with what  precision nature
requires us to act,  yet how truthfully and effectually she responds, when
properly approached, for this was the onlymedicine  required in the case;
every symptom beginning to yield within the succeeding twenty-four hours
after we commenced giving it, and recovery from that moment was steady
and uninterrupted, until health was firmly established.  This was about four
years since, and there had never been a return of any of the symptoms, up to
a year ago, which was the last time we saw the patient. Here  again, there
was a series of boils, which were mostly  large ones, and which continued for
a number  of months, to form, in successive crops. 
4<)
                            CASE  V.

  A young lady, aged twenty-four years, of nervous-bilious temperament, who
inherited consumption, was attacked with well marked disease of the lungs,
after taking cold.  The symptoms increased in severity for a number of weeks,
when we were applied to lor medical aid.   We found the case one which was
caused  by the irritation  of tubercles in  the lungs; the left lung suffering
the more severely.  There was a very troublesome cough which had steadily
increas .d in severity from its first accession, and which was now present at
nearly all hours of  the night and day.  Expectoration was  scanty, though
what there was, partook of the  tuberculous variety.  A sharp darting pain
through the left lung, and an almost constant pain  under the left shoulder
blade, was causing  much  suffering, and  constantly increasing with the  in-
crease of the cough.  In the general  appearance of the patient, there was
marked evidence of the existence of tubercles in the lungs, the eye especially
having that peculiar expression, which in our experience, universally reveales
the presence  of  these bodies in some of  the internal organs.  The appetite
was rather poor, and the bowels were constipated. Chills, fever and night
 sweats, were somewhat troublesome, and the strength and flesh were begin-
 ning to waste rapidly ; in fact, emaciation had already progressed to quite
 an alarming extent.
   Treatment.—We administered Lycopodium to this patient, which gave almost
immediate relief to the lungs, and caused a large number of boils to form in
the muscles upon the posterior surface of the  scapula.  These discharged
 freely, thus putting an end to all symptoms of the lungs in the course of three
 or four weeks, and the patient continues healthy to this time, it being now
 over three years since we treated her.
                           CASE  VI.

  This patient, a boy aged sixteen, of bilious-lymphatic temperament, in-
 herited consumption from his mother,  and commenced, himself, to  decline
 with  the disease at the age  of thirteen, immediately subsequent to an at-
 tack  of typhoid fever.  During the three years that elapsed from the  time
 his disease first manifested itself, until we were called upon to treat him, he
 had been under the care  of six or eight physicians of different schools  of
 practice, all of them pronouncing  the  case one of consumption, and incur-
 able.  In this opinion we concurred, considering the case too far advanced to
 be cured,  and took charge  of the  patient, only through the urgent  solicita-
 tion  of the friends, that  we should do something to relieve his sufferings
 while he lived.
   Symptoms.—A cough  which occurred in frequent and violent  paroxysms,
 at various hours of the day and  night, these paroxysms being terminated, of-
 ten, by expectorating  ragged masses of crude tubercles of various sizes,
 some  of them being as large as a  small sized marble, which were  mingled
 with yellow and gray sputa, and sometimes with blood.  The expectoration,
 which was abundaut, was most of the time extremely fetid, having the odor
 of rotten eggs, and was so bad that the patient had to be kept in a room by
 himself, and only  attended to, as  each separate want was made manifest.
 Auscultation and percussion revealed the existence  of tubercles, and cavi-
 ties in the lungs, though none of these latter were large.  They  appeared to
 be small ones and scattered, caused apparently by the suppuration and dis-
 charge  of the tuberculous masses above referred to.  He did not suffer very
 much with pain, but what there was, partook either of the lancinating char-
 acter, or was a heavy distress all through the chest.  There had been a  very
 bad  diarrhea  for a number  of months, which had resisted all  attempts  at
 controlling it,  and which was fast wasting the remaining strength of the pa-
 tient.   The appetite was poor, and digestion bad, food passing the bowels
 undigested. Chills, fever and night  sweats, were somewhat troublesome, but
 not so severe as we have seen in many cases.  Feet and limbs were badly
 bloated; aud the patient was very much emaciated.
  Treatment.—The symptoms were at first a good deal confused ; and they
lacked distinctness, a  portion of them,  to that degree which rendered it ex-
ceedingly  difficult to fix upon what drug or drugs the Homcepathic law  of 
50
cute demanded in the case.  This, however, was remediable by what we may
call preliminary prescriptions, designed to develop  the  symptoms in a more
positive and individual manner.  This was done, and had the desired effect;
the mixed and uncertain  character  of the symptoms  all disappeared, and
the most clear and positive indication  of Natrum Curb, was all  that  re-
mained.  Nothing could be more satisfactory in the treatment of disease than
the result of administering this medicine. Every symtom began in a few days
to yield and the patient improved so rapidly that in a few weeks he went out
freely, and commenced doing a little light work.  This was in January, 1857,
and the succeeding April, he commenced at regular work, at which he con-
tinued fifteen months  without interruption, when he left for another 6tate,
the most healthy, robust and vigorous appearing boy, that we remember ever
to have met.  We have recently heard from him, and learn that he still con-
tinues in the best of health. Like the  first  case cited, the improvement of
this patient  was marked with the appearance  of successive  crops  of boils,
small for the most part,  many  of them having their seat upon the eyelids,
and continuing over a year ; in fact,  ceasing to make their appearance only
with the restoration of the most perfect  health.
CASE  VII.
 A young married man.aged twenty-six years.of bilious-nervous temperament,
in  'whom their was ho hereditary taint of consumption that we could discover,
but who had been subject for a number of years, to taking cold easily, which
would always produce a severe cough, attended with profuse expectoration.
For this cough, and his great liability to take cold, he had received allopathic
treatment at different times, for months together, but  never with  any per-
manent benefit.  At the time we were called to this patient, he had been suf-
fering from the effects of one of these colds for nearly three months, and al-
though receiving allopathic treatment, his symptoms increased in  severity,
until they began to assume a very alarming character.


  Symptoms—There was by far the greatest amount  of sweating in this case,
that  we ever saw in any attack of disease, whatever,  there being no time,
night or day, that the patient could sleep even a few minutes, without being
bathed in a profuse perspiration, which was always cold and clammy. The
cough, which had been very severe the first six weeks  of his sickness, had
been partially  suppressed by some powerful medicines.   We  ascertained up-
on examining the chest by auscultation and percussion,that the lower half of
the right lune, was badly loaded  with tuberculous matter, and that the left
lung was similarly affected, though not to so  great a degree.  There was a
great deal of soreness through both lungs, and severe lancinating pains in
different  parts of the  chest.  The  appetite was very poor;  and there was
some of the time a bad diarrhea, although the bowels had previously been
constipated.  The strength and flesh had been rapidly wasted by the profuse
perspiration.
  Treatment—After a careful examination of this patient, we selected Lyco-
podium as the remedy indicated.  The result of the administration  of this
medicine,  was satisfactory,  although the nature of the case was such as  to
preclude the possibility of rapid improvement. This was steady and uninter-
rupted, however, the patient being able to  attend to some light work at the
end of six months,  and at the end of a year, to assume the labors and  duties
of the farm, with nearly his accustomed  strength and vigor.  It was  neces-
sary to give a number of different medicines, in the progress of the cure be-
sides  the one  above mentioned,  for symptoms  that arose which called' for
them, but at all times, this maintained its position as the prime curative rem-
edy.  The improvement of this patient was marked  by the appearance of
boils, some ot  which were large, but they were  less in number, than in the
majority of similar cases which we have cured. 
51
                         CASE  VIII.

  This was a girl, aged .thirteen years, of sanguine-nervous temperament,
who inherited a tendency to consumption, and who had, herself,  been very-
much subject from infancy, to attacks of catarrh.  From the effects of a cold,
as her parents supposed, which was taken  in January 1857, she began to de-
cline with well marked disease of the lungs, for which she received allopathic
treatment for five or six weeks, when her attending  physician pronounced
the case one of  consumption, and  incurable, and requested to be released
from the farther care of the patient. This being granted, we were called to
the case, and found it one  fully warranting tiie allopathic opinion that had
been  given, although viewed under the light which  Homoeopathy had fur-
nished us upon this disease, we by no means considered the case one that
was necessarily hopeless.

  Symptoms.—A severe  cough had  existed in this case, from the first com-
mencement of the patients decline, and it had now become so constant as to
almost entirely deprive  the patient  of rest  either n.ght or day.  The  expec-
toration which was abundant, was frothy and yellow, and contained consid-
erable nascent  tuber.culous matter,  there were  frequent darting  pains
throngh the chest, which were especially severe through the left lung, and
which were always aggravated by lying upon the left side.  Chills, fever  and
night sweats, had  existed for some time, the  latter being very  profuse and
deoilitating.  Emaciation had progressed  rapidly, there being the greatest
degree of this,that we ever saw in any patient that was cured.  The strength
had also been wasting rapidly, the patient having been unable to sit up, more
(than a few minutes at a time,for two or three weeks.  The appetite was very
poor, and an obstinate diarrhea was farther reducing the patient's strength.

   Treatment__After an  examination^ this patient, we hesitated somewhat,
whether to administer Phosphorus or Lycopodium, but finally gave preference
to the former, on account of the sharp pains, especially through the left lung,
which were aggravated by lying upon the left side, and also on account of the
diarrhea.   The  action of this medicine, however,  being unsatisfactory,
we then administered Lycopodium, from which there was a perceptible im-
provement in forty-eight hours, and which continued to give relief for the
succeeding three  or four weeks, when Calcarea Carb. speedily put an end to
the few  remaining symptoms.  The cure was accomplished in this case, in
the shortest time required by any similar  case of disease, which we  have
ever treated, the  patient commencing  a regular attendance at school in less
than three months from the  time we were first called to her.  It  was  as ef-
fectual too, as  could have been  desired,  as the patient has continued in
the best of health to the present time, and has been  entirely free from the
catarrh, which had previously been so troublesome.
                            CASE  IX.

   This patient,  a young married  man, aged twenty-seven years, of bilious-
 nervous temperament, inherited consumption from his mother, and began,
 himself, to manifest symptoms of the disease at the age of twenty-five, im-
 mediately subsequent to the suppression of an inveterate skin disease, which
 had been more or less troublesome since his childhood.  He had been under
 allopathic treatment, for the disease of his lungs, most of the time since it first
 manifested itself, and was given up to die,  by physicians  and friends, at the
 time we commenced with the case.

   Symptoms.—\ cough, which manifested itself, mostly in severe paroxysms*
 both night and day, and was always attended with profuse expectoration of
 yellow and gray sputa, and ragged masses  of tuberculous matter.  The lungs,
 especially the upper portions of them, were both badly loaded with tubercles]
 and there were a number of small cavities  in them, as was shown by  auscul-
tation and percussion.  Sharp  darting pains through the chest, caused the
patient much suffering, and there was besides, most of the time, a dull heavy
pain through both lungs. Chills, fever and night  sweats, were all severe.— 
rSB ;,S ss& JS.ESS J^sK ™r.3 :rirs
ducedthat hewaob iged"^l'         -       ith the other svrnpt(,ms.
m5v2SS-W ^g^ve  hi pa^kn^no encL/agement of cure  thinking hi.
  Tr^ment.v>e gave     f       anything more than a palliation of his
disease  too far advanced  to enecia  '    t>    we undertook the nianage-
3 of his case   ndfo  adnhi Urea Phospkonu, in order to relieve him if
Srf  ble  of the  «Tevere  pains through  the chest.  This being  accomplished
P°*. tw firlt nrescrintion we then administered Arsenicum, which speedily
™thanen^rKcnCfev«.  night  sweats  and diarrhea, and the pat.ent
Tended rapidly  in  every respect, for the succeeding two months when he
l^ft for the  west  relieved of  nearly all his  symptoms, except a slight cough,
and having gained in this time, fifteen or twenty pounds in flesh. Alter reach-
fn. hirdesgtSon he wrote to'us that he was suffering from boils, which ap-
peared to farther relieve his lungs.
                           CASE  X.

  A married lady, aged thirty-nine years, of nervous-lymphatic temperament'
inherited consumption, and had slowly but steadily declined with the disease
herself for a number of years.  The prominent symptoms in her case, was a
cou"h attended with profuse expectoration of gray sputa  and remnants of
softened tubercles, severe pain through the right lung, which was some of the
time lancinating in its character, with chilis, fever and night sweats,  lhere
was a cavity of  considerable size, in the  patients right  lung, and every evi-
dence of tubercles existing in both lungs.  The appetite was quite poor; and
the bowels, part of the time, were relaxed. The  strength was much reduc-
ed and flesh was considerably wasted.  Menstruation was almost entirely ar-
rested, although the system made some feeble efforts, at times, to restore it.

  Treatment—Mercurius Solubilis effected a marked change in this patients
symptoms, within a  few weeks, after which Phosphorus acted finely,  for a
time, and then Lycopodium closed up the case, leaving the patient after  a few
months  treatment iu established health, which she continues to enjoy  up to
this time. There were but few boils made their appearance during the cure
of this patient, and those were mostly small ones.
                          CASE  XI.

  A married lady, aged forty-nine, of nervous-bilious temperament, began to
manifest symptoms of tuberculous disturbance of the lungs, immediately  af-
ter her recovery from an attack of congestive pneumonia.  There was, even
for the character  of the case, an unusual degree of soreness or sensation of
excoriation of both lungs, complained of by this patient as constant, besides
severe darting pains through the chest, and a heavy aching pain through the
center of the right lung.  A cough  which  was severe  in the morning, and
more or less troublesome through the day and night, had gradually increased
with the other symptoms, until it was now quite alarming, and was attended
with an expectoration of frothy and yellow sputa, nascent tuberculous mat-
ter and crude tubercles.  There  were at times quite severe chills, fever and
night  sweats.  The appetite was not very good, much of the time; and the
bowels were most of the time regular.  The patient had lost much  of her
natural strength and vigor, and was considerably emaciated.
   Treatment.—This was very irregular, as the patient was without medicine,
more  than half of the time, but we finally succeeded, after a number of months
treatment, by the use of  Phosphorus, Stannum and Carbo veg. as the principal
remedies, in causing an absorption of the tuberculous matter, which ausculta-
tion and percussion revealed in the lungs, and induced a deposit of this in  the
muscles, just beneath the left clavicle, wheie a large carbuncle was produced
which suppurated and discharged freely.  The lungs were almost entirely re-
lieved of their symptoms, as soon as suppuration fairly commenced in the car- 
buncle,and we consider that with judicious management, this would have put
an end to all of the disease of ihe lungs;  but the patient was obliged to un-
dertake a long journey, just at the time the carbuncle was at its height, which
proved a tedious and very unfortunate one to her,  and which of necessity,
would obstruct  very much the highly favorable change that  the medicine
was working in  the  patients system.   However, as it was, there was a per-
manent improvement in the condition of the lungs, and the patient enjoys, to
this time, quite a fair share of health,  although  the last we heard  from her
she had had no treatment for her lungs, since the carbuncle healed.
                          CASE  XII.

  A young lady, aged nineteen  years, of bilious-lymphatic  temperament,
who  did not inherit consumption, but who had suffered very much up to  the
age of fifteen or sixteen, with a species  of scrofulous sores, boils, &c, which
manifested themselves upon different parts  of her  body.   These  were final-
ly subdued,  after repeated and long continued efforts, and the patient then
began to decline with symptoms  of internal  disease.  She had been under
allopathic treatment,.previous to our being  called to her, more or less of the
time, for over a year, and her case was given up as incurable, by her attend-
ing physician.
  Symptoms.—Menstruation, which had been natural from the  age of fifteen to
eighteen,  had now been entirely  suppressed, for one year.   There was not
much cough, but the lungs  were  abundantly loaded with tubercles, which
caused much suffering from sensations of excoriation and burning through
them, and which threatened immediate suppuration.  There was the greatest
deficiencyjof animal heat, in this patients system, that we ever  saw in any case
of disease, as she was in an almost constant chill.  At times there would be a
reaction, when the patient would  have fever, and perspiration, the latter be-
ing always cold and clammy, but  she would then relapse again into the chilly
condition.  Night  sweats, which were  also  always cold, were somewhat
troublesome.  The appetite was very poor, in fact there  was an almost  en-
tire  want of it; and the bowels were badly constipated.  This patient was
greatly emaciated, although previously, when in health, she was much more
fleshy than the majority of persons  of her age.  Her strength was also much
wasted.
   Treatment—We commenced the treatment  of this case, with remedies  to
arouse the digestive organs from  their torpid  condition, being fully convinc-
ed that the patient must soon sink if not better nourished. In this effort we
succeeded, principally by the use of Nux Vomica, after which we proceeded
in the administration of the medicines called for by the totality of the symp-
toms.  Among these, Sepia, Lycopodium and Graphites, were the most mark-
edly indicated, during the progress of  the cure, in the order in which they
are  named,  and they always acted promptly and efficiently.  There was a
gradual,  but steady, and  uninterrupted improvement in  all the symptoms,
from the time we  commenced the .treatment of the patient, until she was re-
stored to nearly her natural sjreng-th,  flesh and vigor, when menstruation
came on, just two years to the week, from the time of its  disappearance.
Here, again, a number of boils made their appearance, during the recovery of
the patient, and these, in every instance, would mark an improvement of the
Internal symptoms.
                          CASE  XIII.

  A  young unmarried  man, aged  twenty-nine  years, of nervous-sanguine
temperament, inherited consumption from both parents ; in fact, nearly all of
the relatives, of both the father and mother of this patient, for two or three
generations back, had died  of the disease. He had been, himself, in rather
delicate health for a number of years, although able as a general thing, to
work upon the farm summers, but feeble winters, or at least very susceptible
to taking colds, which would always result in a lingering cough, attended
with a good deal of expectoration.   This cough, with other serious symptoms,
continued unabated through one entire winter,  but subsided in the  spring 
54
 when the patient commenced work  as usual, upon the farm, at which he cou-
 tinued about two months, when, one day in the field at work, he was attacked
 with a violent pain through the right lung, and a severe cough, which was at-
 tended with  profuse  expectoration of pure pus mixed more or less with
 blood. Following this state of things, the patient declined rapidly in strength
 and flesh, having marked hectic fever, with chills and night sweats.  At this
 juncture,  we commenced the  treatment  of the patient,  and found upon ex-
 amination, that suppuration had taken place near the posterior surface and
 a little above the center  of the right lung,  which had left a cavity of some
 size, and that both lungs were considerably loaded with tuberculous matter.
 The cough.now was not severe, as expectoration, though abundant, was accom
 plished without much effort.   The character of the sputa, indicated at all
 times  a most  serious condition of the lungs, as it was very heavy, thick and
 gray, and sure to be mingled with blood, if the patient exerted himself a little
 too  much, or took a slight cold.  The pain through the chest, which was so
 violent at first, had declined much in severity, but  even now caused consid-
 erable suffering at times, either from its severe  lancinations or its heavy dis-
 tress.  The appetite was very poor;  and the bowels at times  were badly re-
 laxed.

   Tieatment — We  first administered Hepar Sulph. in this case, which had a
 very fine effect, after that Lycopodium which controlled some symptoms that
 we were anxious to get relieved, and then Mercurius Solubilis became mark-
 edly indicated, and was the only medicine required, to permanently cure the
 patient.  This  was accomplished in  about five months, and the patient con-
 tinues  healthy  to this time.  It was very instructive to watch the effect of
 medicine upon this patient. After continuing the use of Mercurius for some
time,the symptoms were so much improved, that we considered it advisable to
 omit its use, which we did for a time, but the patient exerted himself too
 much, and took cold, which brought back some of the bad symptoms,among
which  was the cough, and  the thick gray and bloody expectoration.  We ad-
 ministered Mercurius again at once, which produced two or three  boils with-
in a very few days, and this speedily put  an end  to almost the entire list of
 symptoms of the internal disease.
CASE  XIV
   This  was a case of carbuncle, alternating in its action, between the  mus-
 cles upon the side of the neck,  and the  mucous  membrane  of the throat,
 larynx  and bronchial tubes.  The  patient was a man, aged forty-five yea*s,
 of predominant bilious temperament, and possessed of a powerful physical
 organization.  He had felt a sensation  of dull  pain and soreness for  some
 length  of time, in the muscles just behind the left ear, and this gradually in
 creased in severity, although at times, it woul/i subside almost entirely  when
 the throat would become sore, and a cough arise, that would  be quite troub-
 lesome.  After this state of things had continued for a short time, a reaction
 would take place, the soreness of the throat  and cough, being entirely sub-
 dued, and then the difficulty would return to its original locality there caus-
 ing  more swelling than existed before, until this finally extended down into
 the muscles upon the side of the neck,   These changes occurred quite a num-
 Der of times, and at each time with an increase of suffering ; that is  when the
 symptoms would subside  in the carbuncle, and seize upon  the  throat and
 lungs, the suffering of these organs would be much greater than at the pre-
 ceeding attack, until  finally, after the carbuncle had become quite large and
very painful, it was twice arrested in its progress, through the carelessness of
the patient when a most distressing and constant cough  arose, which was at-
tended with a great  degree of soreness of the throat and lunW and an ex-
pectoration of that pecubar viscid tenacious mucus, which  ahvays  accom-
^tt il£ertUl0KVrrit£I-on* of,the mucous membrane  of the air  passages.
We  at length subdued this tendency of the disease, to seat upon the  throat
^«„S'^dhthen the ™rbuncle P/oceeded regularly in its work of suppur.
 ation and discharge, which soon put an end to all further symptoms. 
oo
  Treatment.—It was necessary, in this case, to use two classes of remedies,
on account of the difference of the symptoms in the two localities, where the'
disease acted.  When it seized upon the throat and lungs, we could  control
it with no other remedies, but Mercurius Solubilis and Phosphorus, while the
symptoms of the carbuncle called for Lycopodium and Hepar Sulph., and these
both relieved the suffering, and hastened suppuration, as soon as we succeed-
ed in  arresting the liability of a transfer of the  disease to the throat and
lungs.  Since the patient was then restored, he has enjoyed uninterrupted
health, and all of his previous natural vigor of constitution.
                         CASE  XV.

  A married lady, aged thirty years, of nervous-lymphatic temperament, in-
herited consumption from her mother, and was, herself, quite subject to
severe attacks of the lungs, after taking cold.  She at one time suffered  a
number of months, with a scrofulous abscess of one of the breasts, which
was finally healed, but after this, the  lungs became much  more  sensitive
than before.  A cold* now seating upon the lungs, was sure to develop  more
or less prominent symptoms of phthisis, which were but slowly and partially
recovered from. Finally, after one of  these colds, a very severe cough came
on, and continued increasing in severity, until there were the most  alarming
symptoms of ulceration of the lungs.   The cough was attended with profuse
expectoration of yellow and gray sputa, and remnants of softened tubercles.
There were lancinating pains through different parts of the chest, and a sore-
ness and dull pain complained of, through the upper portion of the left lung,
whicli  at times caused much suffering.  The  lungs  were both considerably
loaded with tubercles, and a cavity had been formed by suppuration of  sorhe
of these, in the left lung, in the region where the soreness and dull pain were
so much complained of.  The  appetite was very poor; and there was  some
diarrhea.  Chills, fever and night  sweats, had increased with the other symp-
toms, until they were very severe, and very prostrating in  their effects.  The
patient was fast wasting in flesh and strength, and all of the symptoms were
rapidly assuming a most formidable character.
   Treatment—Calcarea Carb. and Phosphorus, effected a most rapid change in
 all of the symptoms, so that the patient was able, within a few weeks,  to at-
 tend to all of her household duties. She then discontinued the use of  medi-
 cine, though the lungs were not entirely healed, but since that time they have
 been much better than before, and occasionally she has a large boil, which
 is always sure to leave the lungs almost entirely free from all symptoms, for
 a long time after its discharge.
   The  above cases, selected  from the great body of those
 which  we have treated, for Phthisis, are deemed  sufficient,
 here.   They  have  been selected for their distinctly marked
 and diversified character ;  and although their number might
 be greatly increased,  yet such increase would yield little
 more than general repetition of what is already given.   The
 number and the varied character of the cases above recited,
 sufficiently sustain  us, in the assumptions  we have made,
 while they communicate, so far as the narrative of cases can,
to  the  physician,  the  means and the methods by which the
 Homoeopathic law is to be successfully applied, in the treat-
ment and cure of consumption. 
56
   No one, of course, can ascribe to mere accident, the cure,
of the number and the character of the cases we have detail-
ed, and hence the repetition of these results,  to any extent
of number,' even to the extermination  of consumption,  is
shown to be within the reach of the studious and  faithful
portion of Homoeopathic practitioners.
  It will be seen, by the cases narrated, that, in their cure
our several positions in regard to the connection of boils and
carbuncles  with  tuberculous  deposits ;  the suppression  of
cutaneous diseases a basis of such deposits ; and finally,  of
these deposits owing their origin to the free surfaces  of the
mucous membranes,  are fully borne out arid sustained,  to a
degree that will probably be deemed wholly sufficient to  es-
tablish them, and render them a basis of future procedure.
  We conclude,  then,  as we began,  with the expression of
an ardent hope, that our professional brethren will promptly
avail themselves  of whatever aid we have been able to ten-
der them, through the contents of this pamphlet, and  at once
determine, for themselves, the extent to  which their  efforts
may  become available, in  relieving humanity  of its direst
scourge.  In this glorious work none can experience  want of
opportunity, for the fel-destroyer is everywhere, and  may be
encountered on any day of the year, by each and every phy-
sician who  feels himself prepared and willing for the  con-
flict.