246 DISEASES CLASS II. 1. 6. 7, 



haemaptoe. See Class I. 2. 1. 9. The remote cause of con- 

 sumption is ingeniously ascribed by Dr. Beddoes to the hyper- 

 'oxjgenation of the blood, as mentioned Section XXV 111. 2. 



As the patients liable to consumption are of the irurritable 

 temperament, as appears by the large pupils of their eyes; there 

 is reason to believe, that the haemoptoe is immediately occasion- 

 ed by the deficient absorption of the blood at ihe extremities of 

 the bronchial vein; and that one difficulty of healing the ulcers 

 is occasioned by the deficient absorption of the fluids effused in- 

 to them. See Sect. XXX. 1. and -2. 



The difficulty of healing pulmonary ulcers may be owing, as 

 its remote cause, to the 1 incessant motion of all the pans oi the 

 lungs; whence no scab, or indurated mucus, can be formed so 

 as to adhere on them. Whence these naked ulcers are perpe- 

 tually exposed to the action of the air on their surfaces, convert- 

 ing their mild purulent matter into a contagious ichor; which 

 not only prevents them from healing, but by its action on their 

 circumferences, like the matter of itch or tinea, contributes to 

 spread them wider. See the preceding article, and Sect. XXX11I. 

 2. 7. where the pulmonary phthisis is supposed to be infectious. 



This acidifying principle is found in all the metallic calces, 

 as in lapis calaminaris, which is a calciform ore of zinc; 

 and in minium, which is a calx of lead; two materials 

 which are powerful in healing excoriations and ulcers, in a 

 short time, by their external application. How then does it 

 happen, that the oxygen in the atmosphere should prevent pul- 

 monary ulcers from healing, and even induce them to spread 

 wider; and yet in its combination with metals, it should iaeiii- 

 tate their healing? The healing of ulcers consists in promoting 

 the absorption of the fluids effused into them, as treated of in 

 Section XXXIII. 3. 2. Oxygen in combination with metals, 

 when applied in certain quantity, produces this effect by its 

 stimulus; and the metallic oxjdes not being decomposed by 

 their contact with animal matter, no new acid, or contagious 

 material, is produced. So that the combined oxygen when ap- 

 plied to an ulcer, simply I suppose promotes absorption in it, 

 like the application of other materials of the articles sorbentiaor 

 incitantia, if applied externally; as opium, bark, alum. But 

 in the pulmonary ulcers which cannot protect themselves from 

 the air by forming a scab, the imcombined oxygen of the atmo- 

 sphere unites with the purulent matter, converting it into a con- 

 tagious ichor; which, by infection, not by erosion, enlarges 

 the ulcers, as in the itch or tinea; which might hence, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Beddoes-s ingenious theory of consumption, be in- 

 duced to heal, if exposed to an atmosphere deprived of a part of 



