TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 903 



SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3. 

 The followinp^ Papers and Eeports were read : — 



1. The Experimental Production of Chest-types in Man. 

 Bij G. W. Hambleton. 



The object of this paper was to place the following facts before the Association, 

 in the hope that the important points they raise may form the subject of further 

 investigation by a committee appointed for that purpose. 



Whilst engaged in research the author's attention was drawn to the fact that 

 the size and shape of the chest varied as he varied the conditions to which it was 

 subject. He ascertained that this sequence of events was absolutely constant, 

 and could be carried out within such wide limits that it appeared to him to 

 present an insuperable objection to the present accepted theory of the inheritance 

 of chest-types. Taking a well-marked example of the so-caUed inherited con- 

 sumption chest, he subjected it to conditions that tend to develop the lungs till it 

 corresponded in size and shape first with that of the town artisan, then with that 

 of a man of the pri^dleged class, and finally with that of a man of the best class 

 of insurable lives in America. By subjecting that same chest to conditions that 

 tend to reduce the breathing capacity, the author brought it back through the same 

 types to nearly that with which he commenced. And similar results were obtained 

 on other chests. Evidence was adduced showing that there is the same relation- 

 ship between the size and shape of other parts of the body and the conditions to 

 which they are subject ; therefore the author contended that the type of man after 

 birth was solely produced by the couditions to which he is subjected. Hence the 

 formation of race and the return of man, animal, or plant to former types on being 

 subjected to the conditions that produced that type. 



This opens up a wide and most important field for our investigation. We have 

 to ascertain what the conditions are that produce those changes in each part of 

 man that together form a class or type, so that we may produce the type that is 

 most suitable for different places and occupations, and then we shall have a Science 

 of Man. 



2. The Scientific Treatment of Consimption. By G. W. Hambleton. 



At the last meeting of the Association the author read a paper on that part of 

 his research that referred to the prevention of consumption, and he now completed 

 the subject by giving an explanation of the mode in which the disease is produced, 

 and by laying down the principles that must guide us in its successful treatment 



Whether there are any means by which we can be certain of successfully treat- 

 ing consumption is a question of such grave importance, and the author's contention 

 in the affirmative is so entirely opposed to the results of treatment — with one too 

 long forgotten great exception — that it was necessary to draw attention to the 

 whole evidence that can be adduced in support of that contention. 



The case may be conveniently divided into three branches, dealing with the cause 

 of the disease, its mode of operation, and the principles of treatment. Taking these 

 in their natural order we come first to the consideration of the cause of the disease, 

 and the theory held by the author is this : that consumption is the direct result of 

 the reduction'of the breathing surface of the lungs below a certain point in pro- 

 portion to the remainder of the body, and is solely produced by conditions that tend 

 to reduce the breathing capacity. 



In support of that interpretation of the cause of consumption the following 

 evidence was adduced : (A) that referring to the known production of the disease 

 by such conditions in certain trades and occupations, its experimental production in 

 animals, evidence of the effect of such conditions in the disease itself, and the 

 absence of a recorded case, experimental or other, in which such conditions were 

 not present. 



