DR. Cr.ARK 0\ COSSUMPTIOK. 5'27 



flesh soft, the limbs emaciated, the abdomen tumid, and the evacua- 

 tiaiis foetid and unnatural. 



*' The external lymphatic glands^ especially those of the neck, will 

 enlarge, and the child will speedily fall a victim to tuberculous dis- 

 ease, while its brothers and sisters, who have been properly suckled, 

 and reared with care, attain a healthy maturity. 



"If this is the case in a strong infant, the offspring of healthy pa- 

 rents, and perfectly healthy at its birth, how much more certainly 

 and rapidly will the same effects be produced in the feeble infant of 

 unhealthy parents, or still more of parents absolutely scrofulous ? 

 Again, take a child of three or four years of age, in perfect health, 

 having been born without any hereditary predisposition to disease, 

 well nursed, and hitherto properly nourished, — let it be fed upon 

 coarse, unnutritious food, and confined in close ill-ventilated apart- 

 ments, where neither the heat nor the light of the sun has free admis- 

 sion, — and we shall soon see the healthy and blooming child changed 

 into a pale, sickly, leucophlegmatic object. During the whole pe- 

 riod of youth the same condition may be induced, although, as we 

 advance in life, a longer time is requisite to effect such constitutional 

 deterioration. But up to the period of the full development of the 

 system, until the body has ceased to increase in stature or has reached 

 maturity and acquired the stability of the adult, tuberculous cachexia 

 may be readily induced. After maturity, the powers of the system 

 in resisting the causes of disease are greater than at an earlier age ; 

 still we see the same results produced by similar causes, the constitu- 

 tional affection being the same, although it is induced more slowly 

 and manifests itself in a different manner, according to the age and 

 peculiar constitution of the individual." 



After this general summary, the particular Causes are examined 

 in detail, under the heads. Improper Diet, Impure Air, Deficient Ex- 

 ercise, Excessive Labour, Imperfect Clothing, Want of Cleanliness, 

 Abuse of Spirituous Liquors, and Affections of the Mind. 



In section third the Causes determining tuberculous disease in the 

 lungs are discussed, that is, the effect which coughs, colds, and in- 

 flammation of the lungs have in producing consumption. The 

 author is of opinion that they can never have this effect unless the 

 constitutional predisposition previously exists in the individual. 



The chapter on Prevention is divided into two sections. The firs 

 on Prevention as regards parents, in which the author strong;ly insists 

 on the necessity of attending to the health, constitution, and family 

 diseases of persons intermarrying with each other. He strongly re- 

 probates the intermarriage of relations, recommends attention to the 

 health, both before and after marriage, and then proceeds to lay 

 down rules for the conduct of mothers during the period of preg- 

 nancy. 



"Were parents in general convinced that the health of their child- 

 ren depended chiefly upon the integrity of their own health, a be- 

 neficial effect might be produced upon society at large, and espe- 

 cially' on the members of strumous families. If a more healthy 

 and natural mode of living were adopted by persons in that rank of 

 life which gives them the power of choice, and if more consideration 



