TUBERCULOSIS. §5 
Asthmatic paroxysms can scarcely be mistaken. They occur suddenly ; the 
respiration is not increased in frequency, in fact, at times, it is less rapid than in 
health; the inspirations are jerking, and the expirations wheezing; and with 
these symptoms are associated the usual signs of the existing sense of suffoca- 
tion, as a piteous and anxious expression, etc. 
The significance of such attacks depends upon the causes and conditions 
which induce them. Alone they do not threaten life. But once they occur, the 
chances are that they will appear again and again; although, as a rule, only at 
long intervals. 
Ordinary attacks scarcely require treatment, for generally they end in the 
course of ten or fifteen minutes. If, however, they persist, or are very severe 
from the first, the victim should be placed in a small room and treated to the 
fumes of stramonium leaves and nitrate of potassa, the same being well mixed, 
in proportions of one ounce of the former to one dram of the latter, and thrown 
onto a pan of coals. Considering the quantity of this that ought to be used, a 
teaspoonful should be burned every five minutes until the patient is relieved or 
the attendant has grown dizzy. 
An emetic will also afford prompt relief in the majority of cases; and either 
ipecac, common salt, or the sulphate of zinc may be employed. 
As for curative treatment — that is, to remove the cause and prevent attacks 
—there is nothing in the way of medicine which promises well, and reliance 
must be placed on hygienic and dieletic means. If the victims are badly housed, 
and especially in stables, they should be put into out-of-door kennels or be other- 
wise as healthfullv placed ; while the diet must be greatly reduced and simplified 
if they are fat and disinclined to exercise. 
TUBERCULOSIS. 
Pulmonary tuberculosis, popularly termed consumption, is a disease charac- 
terized by the presence of morbid deposits called tubercles. These are scat- 
tered more or less abundantly throughout the substance of the lungs, and appear 
as small, grayish granules about the size of millet seeds. In time they generally 
unite, and form nodules or bunches, which vary in size. The parts adjacent to 
them are inflamed ; the tubercles tend to soften, break down, and become lique- 
fied; ulcerations follow; the lung tissue affected is destroyed, and cavities 
form. 
It is now very generally accepted that the real cause of tubercle, of every form, 
is a microbe, to which the name bacillus tuberculosis has been given; also that 
whereas once this disease was supposed to be caused directly by bad air, un- 
wholesome food, close confinement, in-and-in breeding, neglected colds, and the 
