732 
N. R. MACAULAY. 
readily effected than when that portion of the lung was doing 
a little expansion and contraction, for then these very move¬ 
ments helped to force the stagnating blood along. Just here 
allow me to make a remark about counter-irritants in gen¬ 
eral. In all cases they enforce rest of the part over which 
they are applied, and I believe that many a case of sprain or 
strain has been greatly benefited bv this enforced rest the 
animal has given the limb because of the pain the blister has 
caused, but while this enforced resl is beneficial in those cases 
it certainly is detrimental in those where the lungs are in¬ 
volved, for here there are certain functions that must be per¬ 
formed whether the animal is well or ill, sleeping or waking, 
and anything that tends to stop such function, aims directly 
at the life of the animal. 
Such being some of the chief actions of the blister, where¬ 
in does it do anything towards assisting the animal to re¬ 
covery ? True, a great many cases recover that have been 
severely blistered, but did the blistering effect the cure? I 
think not. The animal that has recovered was one that had 
sufficient vitality to fight through the internal or disease 
“ fire ” if I may so term it, and the external fire due to the 
application, and has recovered in spite of the blistering. 
Before going farther it might be serviceable to look back 
on the treatment of pneumonia in years gone by and compare 
it with the treatment of to-day in the human family, and see 
if we can deduce any lessons therefrom for ourselves. 
A synopsis of former treatment, without going into inter¬ 
nal medicaments, as that is apart from my subject, is summed 
up in a few words. The patient was kept in a close, warm 
room, was warmly blanketed, often blistered. And why all 
this heat? From a fear the patient would chill; and in con¬ 
nection with this treatment and in exactly the same line, 
the sufferer was allowed nothing but warmed drinks, although 
he might beg and crave and eventually die for the want of 
cold water. 
In the treatment of to-day what changes are noticeable? 
Ex cessive blanketing is discarded, and as far as possible the 
room is kept sweet and pure and of an even temperature, not 
