204 ISLES OF SUMMER. 
1880, supplemented by that of Florida in April, affected an ap- 
parent cure. 
We knew of an instance where a person suffering from catarrh 
of the bladder found great relief at Nassau. 
A judge from the city of New York was stopping at the Vic- 
toria Hotel when we arrived in 1879, who was suffering from 
what was thought to be asoftening of the brain. In such cases, 
perhaps, a more tonic atmosphere is desirable. He attempted 
to resume his judicial labors soon after his return, but found 
himself incapacitated. 
We made the acquaintance at Nassau, in 1879, of a lady who 
was then apparently cured of a bronchial disease, but she had 
some return of it the following summer in the mountains of North 
Carolina. 
It is impossible in a great many cases to know beforehand with 
certainty what effect the air of the Bahamas will produce—wheth- 
er favorable or unfavorable. Itis not adapted to meet the neces- 
sities of all. Nassau is unlike the pool of Siloam, that cured all 
comers. Some are prostrated in its warm enervating air. A 
medical gentleman informed us that in confirmed consumption 
it relaxes the tissues, and that severe hemorrhages follow. If 
good in that complaint at all, it is only in its early stages. This 
we learned both from observation and from the testimony of 
physicians on the spot. One of these said to us, ‘‘ Don’t recom- 
mend these islands for consumption and rheumatism.” A resi- 
dent physician of good repute declared the climate bad for rheu- 
matism. A young clergyman, prostrated by a pulmonary com- 
plaint in the dawn of what promised to be a most useful life, 
went over in the same steamer with us, in 1879, and for sometime 
it seemed doubtful if he would ever be able to leave the island 
alive. We were told in Nassau, in 1880, that his health was 
improved. 
