CAUSE  AND  REMEDY   OF  TUBERCULOSIS. 
143 
surface  of  a  fla^  dish — a  dinner  plate,  for  example,  being  used 
for  the  purpose  giving  a  broad  surface  for  absorption,  and  this 
plate  placed  under  the  bed,  or  anywhere  most  convenient  in  the 
sick- chamber,  all  odor  disappears ;  and  it  has  an  advantage  above 
those  in  general  use  in  the  sick-chamber,  that  it  has  no  odor  of 
its  own.  Vinegar  and  chlorine  and  nitrous  acid  gas,  are  often 
of  themselves  a  nuisance  ;  whilst  destroying  one  odor  they  create 
another  ;  but  the  permanganic  acid  has  none.  It  only  destroys; 
it  does  not  create.  I  have  employed  the  solution  successfully  in 
my  stables,  and  in  other  places  engendering  odors.  It  does  not 
require  frequent  change.  Has  it  lost  its  original  beautiful  pur- 
ple color?  Has  it  become  black  and  slimy  ?  If  so  renew  it,  but 
not  till  then. 
The  permanganate  of  potash  was  introduced  some  time  ago 
as  a  remedy  in  diabetes,  so  that  it  is  well  known  to  chemists. — 
London  Chemist,  Jan.  1858,  from  London  Lancet. 
ON  THE  PROXIMATE  CAUSE  AND  SPECIFIC  REMEDY  OF  TUBER. 
CULOSIS. — Abstract  of  a  paper  laid  before  the  Academy  of  Medicine 
of  Paris,  on  the  21st  of  July,  1857. 
By  John  Francis  Churchill,  M.  D.  . 
The  total  number  of  cases  of  phthisis  treated  by  me  amounts 
to  thirty-five.  All  were  in  either  the  second  or  third  stages 
of  the  complaint;  that  is,  they  had  either  softened  tubercles  or 
cavities  in  the  lungs.  Of  these,  nine  recovered  completely,  the 
physical  signs  of  the  disease  disappearing  altogether  in  eight 
out  of  that  number;  eleven  improved  considerably,  and  fourteen 
died;  one  still  remains  under  treatment. 
I  believe  that  the  results,  of  which  the  preceding  is  a  sum- 
mary, taken  in  connection  with  the  considerations  I  have  set 
forth  at  length  in  the  paper  now  in  the  hands  of  your  Hon. 
Secretary,  will  be  found  to  justify  the  following  conclusions: — 
The  proximate  cause,  or  at  all  events  an  essential  condition 
of  the  tubercular  diathesis,  is  the  decrease  in  the  system,  of 
the  phosphorus  which  it  contains  in  an  oxygenizable  state. 
The  specific  remedy  of  the  disease  consists  in  the  use  of  a 
preparation  of  phosphorus,  uniting  the  two  conditions  of  being, 
