430 
J. C. MEYER, 8R. 
days or weeks rest, not having been exposed to the weather, or 
any other causes sufficient to produce such a morbid condition. 
The sneaking entry and uniform course of this disorder, its 
appearance in localities where no infection or contagion by others 
could be traced, warrants me in believing that it must have its 
origin in the same source as diseases for which miasmatic agents 
are conceded as bein^ the instigators. 
A very plausible view pertaining to the genesis of lung fever 
is offered by an eminent medical pathologist, who claims that in¬ 
flammation of the lungs is a general blood poisoning disease, and 
that the deposit of the morbid agents into the lungs is to be 
regarded merely as secondary and not as a primary process, etc. 
He furnishes exemplary evidence to substantiate these and other 
convincing assertions. 
That there is an incongruity of the elementary constituents of 
the blood present when the attack sets in, leaves no doubt in my 
mind. But how this condition is brought about, whether by 
microscopic organisms, or imperfect functions of one or more of 
the cardinal organs, is not quite clear to me. 
As long as the affection was limited to one lobe prognosis was 
favorable, but when the inflammation extended to the other, which 
usually took place from the second to the fifth day, it was re¬ 
garded as a grave omen owing to its hydropsical tendency. The 
gangrenous smell of the expirum in some cases required the 
greatest caution in the prognosis, as the alarming symptoms may 
sometimes subside and the case take an unexpected favorable turn. 
Treatment. —Venesection was never resorted to, the character 
of the disease seeming to forbid such procedure, though I had oc¬ 
casion to see it carried out without changing the course very obvi¬ 
ously. The internal remedies employed, more or less, were tinct. 
or fld. extr. verat-virid., 40 grs. to 3 i per dose, given three to 
eight times in twenty-four hours, with spts. niter dule., 3 vj, 
tinct. lobelia 3 ij» and dilnt. sucei. liquirit § ss, injected into the 
mouth by means of a half ounce syringe, and continued with the 
same treatment until a perceptible reduction of fever was noticed. 
In individual cases the fld. extr. verat-virid. caused retching, when 
the dose was reduced. In diarrhoea and diabetes, parese, or gen- 
