210 THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 
Cave must have resulted from a total miscon- 
ception of the nature of the disease, as it is 
well known to the medical profession that the 
absence of light will develop the scrofulous 
diathesis, and cause a deposit of tubercles in the 
lungs. 
The truth of this position was established in 
the cases of those who resorted to the Cave for 
relief; and the majority of those who remained 
any considerable length of time died within 
periods varying from three days to three weeks 
after leaving it. Those patients who remained 
in the Cave three or four months presented a 
frightful appearance. The face was entirely 
bloodless, eyes sunken, and pupils dilated to 
such a degree that the iris ceased to be visible, 
so that, no matter what the original color 
of the eye might have been, it soon appeared 
black. 
Very few diseases, not even consumption, are 
aggravated by short and easy trips in the Cave. 
Chronic dysentery and diarrhoea are said to 
have been cured by a short visit to the Cave, 
after all the usual remedies had failed. 
In those diseases in which absolute silence 
and the total exclusion of light are indicated, 
the Cave, above all other places, possesses pre- 
