293 



perienced" of us will allow so much), then the one- 

 sided experience of universally treating consumption 

 with the warm and dirty air and the sedative drugs 

 prescribed by twenty centuries of medical tradition 

 should by this time have culminated in this treatment 

 being even more unassailable than the like one-sided 

 experience of egg food during two or three centuries. 

 Now what was the sum total of this prolonged 

 experience of phthisis and its treatment? That 

 it was always fatal within about two years from its 

 onset, and that it was hereditary. And what on the 

 other hand has been the result of that which has been 

 somewhat flippantly alluded to as "a little micro- 

 scopical investigation " ? That in little more than a 

 decade we have learnt the folly, the uselessness, and 

 the positive mischief of our old methods. We have 

 been brought to see both the non-hereditary character 

 of the disease, and that by simply adopting the precise 

 contrary of our hitherto long-worshipped treatment 

 it is not even necessarily fatal. 



(Zt7 de co?ifm7ced). 



Zbc Blackcap. 



By vSepTimus Perkins. 



' w^ HE diverse opinions expressed as to the delicacy 



fr^ of this charming bird in confinement are extra- 



V^ ordinary. Personally, I have found it an 



extremely easy bird to keep, and I believe that 



is the general opinion, but Dr. Bradburn, no mean 



authority, pronounced it " a very much more delicate 



bird than the Nightingale," and adds " Both male and 



female are sweet docile little creatures, and seem to 



appreciate what you do for them ; still, in spite of every 



care, the average duration of life in these birds when 



caged is certainly short ; a large number die in the 



moult." 



