ANATOMICAL. 219 



word "Phthisis" which being interpreted, means "wasting 

 away" It is sometimes called "tubercular disease." 

 We have already seen something of the blood, and we 

 know something of the nature of that great pumping- 

 station of the body we call the heart, which our forefathers 

 long ago erroneously thought was the seat of the affec- 

 tions ; and we have seen something, too, of that wonderful 

 system of drainage which runs over the whole body, from 

 the crown of the head to the sole of the foot ; and now 

 we are brought face to face with that fell disease which, 

 unless taken in its earliest stage, ends in what we call 

 death. What is it ? You said it looked like a piece of 

 mouldy flesh, and you were right. But what is mould ? 

 The tubercules which destroyed the lung from which our 

 object was taken was the consequence of imperfect 

 oxygenation of the blood of the owner, and that is what 

 we are all more or less exposed to. Ah, if you were only 

 to pay a visit to the Brompton Hospital for Consumption, 

 and you did not return to your home with a grateful, a 

 sympathetic, and a liberal heart well, the more your 

 shame ! 



"He jests at scars that never felt a wound," says 

 Shakespeare, and he says truly; but the right way to 

 appreciate our own blessings is to become a little more 

 familiar with others who have been deprived of theirs, for 

 indeed it is true that " blessings do brighten when they 

 take their flight," and instead of being frightened at a 

 little imperfect knowledge of some of " the ills that flesh 

 is heir to," we may learn to avoid some of the various 

 ways which lead to them, and to thank God also for 

 being 'kept from them. I have heard of one who, passing 

 through the wards of a lunatic asylum one day where 

 those were detained who were harmless, had one of them 

 come up to him, and in that strange manner in which an 



