FOUL AIR AND DISEASE OF THE HEART. 183 



world what fools these pseudo-scientists are, and thus break the spell, 

 which is as groundless as the Cock-lane Ghost, but which holds so 

 many all-agape at their fantastic tricks. 



Mr. Leii'child's book is popular, and yet sound and thoughtful. 

 Its style is terse and clear. He represents the materialists and pan- 

 theists (the extremes are one) with fairness, and exposes the core of 

 their absurdities, showing the higher ministry of Nature in declaring 

 the glory of God, vindicating the equal authority of our intuitions 

 and our senses, and the separateness, yet intimate connection, of mind 

 and matter. It is a book that should find its way to every parlor, 

 where the materialistic poison has been scattered, to straighten and 

 strengthen the weak knees, and give color to the pallid cheek, letting 

 the light uj)on the frightful spectre, and showing it to be but a man 

 of straw. It is high time that this buffoonery in the name of science 

 were played out. Scientific and religious men must join to put out 

 the intruder, with a brand upon his back. To hold serious talk with 

 him is only to set him up in his assumption. Mr. Leifchild's book ex- 

 poses hirn to the world, pulls off the lion's skin, and turns the public 

 fear into laughter. Let the voice of Truth be heard through a thou- 

 sand such books, and the cant of materialism shrink into silence. 



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FOUL AIR AND DISEASE OF THE HEART. 



By COKNELIUS BLACK, M. D. Lond., M. K. C. P. 



IF the question were asked, " Which side of the heart is the more 

 frequently affected by disease ? " the answer, in perhaps nine cases 

 out of ten, would be, the left. This answer would not, however, em- 

 brace the whole truth. It would be true of the aggregate of cases of 

 cardiac disease without reference to age ; but it would be untrue if the 

 occurrence of cardiac disease were referred to the later periods of life. 

 If a man lives to the age of forty years without having suffered from 

 cardiac disease, and, if after that period the heart becomes affected, 

 the mischief will, as a rule, be found to exist on the right side. If, on 

 the contrary, cardiac disease should occur before that age, the disease 

 will, almost invariably, be found to exist on the left side. Hence, it 

 follows that the right side of the heart is the seat of cardiac disease 

 occurring after middle age the left side of the heart the seat of car- 

 diac disease occurring before middle age. 



As in time, so it is with respect to the nature of the diseases which 

 affect the right and left sides of the heart respectively. Those of the 

 right side are the result of tissue-degeneration, or of mere mechanical 

 influences ; those of the left side are almost invariably the product of 



