102 Proceed iii(/s of the Royal Socieij/ of Victoria. 



treatment of diseases of the nose had not become organised 

 into a special de})avtment of medicine, it would have been 

 assumed that the significance of the respiratory reflex was 

 fully understood. My object in drawing attention to tin- 

 matter is — (1) To put the facts, as far as possible, befoie 

 members. (2) To stimulate observation, which from the 

 necessity of the case must be largely ])ersonal. (3) To give 

 another example of the manner in which good observers are 

 biassed by the teleological assumption. (4) Of the manner in 

 which such fallacious observations lead men to accept explana- 

 tions which wrongly coloui" the work of tho.se who have to 

 apply them, in practical life. An accurate statement of facts 

 with regard to sneezing, would probably have stimulated 

 inquiry into the relation between nasal disease and asthma, 

 at a much earlier date than 1871, when attention was first 

 drawn to the matter by Voltolini. 



