CONSUMPTION. 



When we say Uiat production sJiould U- encourag- 

 ed, it is only inculcating, in otlu-r words, the nmxim 

 tliat consumption should bo encouraged : for the one 

 v ill, in every community, beur a pretty near pro- 

 portion to tlie other ; and tlie object of a liberal, en- 

 lightened policy is, to swell the amount of both ; and 

 tlie object of a wise and philnnthropical policy is, 

 to direct them to objects promotive of the physical 

 foi n tort, and moral and intellect .ual improvement, of a 

 people. We are, however, to avoid the error of 

 supposing, that all the causes which go to swell the 

 Jii::: regale of production and consumption, are bene- 

 fit i;i! in their operation. If, for example, ail the 

 rents of tlie lands, as under tlie feudal system, are as- 

 .-! imed to a few, who, by a luxurious and expensive 

 style of living, consume the greater part of the pro- 

 duce of the labour of the other members of the 

 community, leaving them no more than barely 

 enough to sustain life, and defend them against the 

 elements, though such a community may present a 

 gorgeous exhibition of individual wealth, yet the 

 condition of a great part of its members is little bet- 

 ter than that of savages. This was tlie tendency of 

 society under the feudal system, and all the ecclesi- 

 astical systems founded under the auspices of the 

 church of Rome. In such communities, every tax, 

 and every superfluous product, passes into a vortex 

 remote from tlie interests, comforts, and wants of the 

 mass of the population. The consumption ought to 

 be so distributed, as to give every one some just 

 share, in proportion to his labour and services. A 

 precisely equal and just apportionment of the fruits of 

 labour, and the profits of the use of the earth, cannot 

 lie made in any country ; for the rights of property 

 must be guarded, or industry will dwindle away. But 

 the laws may do much, and the prevailing ha I its of 

 thinking, and principles, and motives of action, of a 

 people, still more, towards assigning to every kind 

 of industry, and every species ot talent and skill, its 

 fair proportion of the general consumption, and in 

 such a way as not to check, but to augment, the gene- 

 ral mass of things produced and consumed. The 

 benefits of commerce do not consist so much in the 

 mass of wealth which it may be the means of ac- 

 cumulating, or in its directly employing a great 

 many persons, as in the facilities it gives for aug- 

 menting the general mass of production and con- 

 sumption ; and, in this respect, internal commerce in 

 a country of considerable extent and variety of pro- 

 ducts, is far more important than foreign, since the 

 mutual exchanges of the products of labour made 

 among the inhabitants of such a country are much 

 greater, in amount, than those made between the 

 whole country and other nations. 



CONSUMPTION, in medicine, or PHTHISIS 

 (from ffm, to consume) ; a disease known by ema- 

 ciation, debility, cough, hectic fever, and purulent 

 expectoration. The causes which predispose to this 

 disease are very numerous. The following are, 

 however, the most general : hereditary disposition ; 

 particular formation of body, obvious by a long neck, 

 prominent shoulders, and narrow chest ; scrofulous 

 diathesis, indicated by a fine clear skin, fair hair, de- 

 licate rosy complexion, large veins, thick upper lip, 

 a weak voice, and great sensibility ; certain diseases, 

 such as syphilis, scrofula, the small-pox, and meas- 

 les ; employments exposing particular artificers to 

 dust, such as needle-pointers, stone-cutters, millers, 

 &c., or to the fumes of metals or minerals under a 

 confined and unwholesome air; violent passions, 

 exertions, or affections of the mind, as grief, disap- 

 pointment, anxiety, or close application to study, 

 without using proper exercise ; frequent and exces- 

 sive debaucheries, late watching, and drinking frely 

 of strong liquors : great evacuations, as diarrhoea, 



and the continuing to suckle too long under a de- 

 bilitated state; and, lastly, the application of cold 

 either by too sudden a change of apparel, keep- 

 ing on wet. clothes, lying in damp beds, or expos- 

 ing the liody too suddenly to cool air, when Jieat- 

 ea by exercise ; in short, by anything that gives a 

 considerable check to the perspiration. The more 

 immediate or occasional causes of phthisis are, lue- 

 moptysis, pneumonic inflammation proceeding i o sup- 

 puration, catarrh, asthma, and tubercles, the last ol 

 which is by far tlie most general. 



The incipient symptoms usually vary with th 

 cause of tlie disease ; but when it arises from lulier- 

 cles it is usually thus marked : It begins with a 

 short dry cough, that at length becomes habitual, 

 but from which nothing is spit up for some time. e\- 

 cept a frothy mucus that seems to proceed from tlie 

 fauces. The breathing is at the same time some- 

 what impeded, and upon tlie least bodily motion is 

 much hurried : a sense of straitness, with oppression 

 at tlie chest, is experienced : the body becomes gradu- 

 ally leaner, and great languor, with indolence, de- 

 jection of spirits, and loss of appetite, prevail. In 

 this state tlie patient frequently continues a consider- 

 able length of time, during which he is, however, 

 more readily aflected than usual by slight colds ; ami 

 upon one or other of these occasions, the Congo be- 

 comes more troublesome and severe, particularly by 

 night, and it is at length attended with an expecto 

 ration, which towards morning is more free and copi- 

 ous. By degrees tlie matter which is expectorated 

 becomes more viscid and opaque, and now assumes a 

 greenish colour and purulent appearance, being on 

 many occasions streaked with blood. In some cases, 

 a more severe degree of haemoptysis attends, and the 

 patient spits up a considerable quantity of florid, 

 frothy blood. The breathing at length becomes more 

 difficult, and the emaciation and weakness go on in- 

 creasing. With these the person begins to be sensible 

 of pain in some part of the thorax, which, ho\vcver,is 

 usually felt at first under the sternum, particularly on 

 coughing. At a more advanced period of the disease, 

 a pain is sometimes felt on one side, and at times pre- 

 vails in so high a degree, as to prevent the person from 

 lying easily on that side ; but it more frequently hap- 

 pens, that it is felt only on making a full inspiration, 

 or coughing. Even wh< re no pain is felt, it often 

 happens that those who labour under phthisis cannot 

 lie on one or other of their sides, without a fit of 

 coughing being excited, or tlie difficulty of breathing 

 being much increased. 



At the first commencement of the disease, the 

 pulse is often natural, or perhaps is soft, small, and 

 a little quicker than usual ; but when the symptoms 

 which have been enumerated have subsisted for any 

 length of time, it then becomes full, hard, and fre- 

 quent. At the same time the face flushes, particular- 

 ly after eating, the palms of the hands and soles of the 

 feet are affected with burning heat ; the respiration 

 is difficult and laborious ; evening exacerbations 

 become obvious, and by degrees tlie fever assumes 

 the hectic form. This species of fever is evidently O f 

 the remittent kind, and has exacerbations twice 

 every day. The first occurs usually about noon, 

 and a slight remission ensues about five in the after 

 noon. This last is, however, soon succeeded by 

 another exacerbation, which increases gradually un- 

 til after midnight; but about two o'clock in the 

 morning, a remission takes place, and this becomes 

 more apparent as the morning advances. During 

 these exacerbations, the patient is very sensible to any 

 coolness of the air, and often complains of a sense of 

 cold when his skin is, at the same time, preternatur- 

 ally warm. Of these exacerbations, that of the 

 evening is by far the most considerable. From tlw 



