ulation
prevailed, although there was a true theory, which, if generally
believed, might lead to the knowledge of the cause and cure of this
terrific malady; and thus thousands of lives be saved which would
otherwise be lost. This thought almost distracted me; and believing that
my sex stood in the way of my theory's being acknowledged, I sometimes
wished that it might please God to take me out of the world. Then coming
to better thoughts; I cast away despondency as unworthy of me; and
determined to proceed to the further investigation and development of
the great truth, of which I had, as I believed, been made the unworthy
recipient. I studied my theory anew, while I read the most approved
works on cholera; and I came to the belief that imperfect respiration,
caused by the want of due oxygen in the air, was the principal
predisposing cause of the premonitory symptoms; while the death that
supervened was often caused by the settling of carbonic acid gas, the
residuum of animal combustion, in the lower air-cells of the lungs. The
symptoms of the cholera, as treated by the best writers, were full of
new proofs of the truth of my theory, especially of its last step, the
formation of steam or vapor in the lungs. Without that, the collapse of
cholera was a fearful mystery; with it, everything was plain. With a
coldness that would collapse the lungs, the bowels must naturally be
drawn up (and with dreadful pains) to supply their place. The ghastly
change in the face must occur when cold has condensed its arterial
vapor. If respiration could restore heat, before any lesions had taken
place in the organism, the patient might recover. Then I began rewriting
my theory in a work afterwards published, with the title, "Respiration
and its Effects, especially in relation to Asiatic Cholera and other
Sinking Diseases."

While thus occupied, the debilitating air of the season weighed upon my
health and spirits. I had been affected for about three days with what I
regarded as the ordinary complaints of the season, when one night, after
my family had retired, I found myself suddenly very ill--my symptoms
being coldness, debility, and spasmodic pains. I believed myself to be
attacked with cholera. I efficiently practised the artificial
respiration in fresh air as before described. Gaining strength as I
proceeded, I soon found a death-like coldness giving place to genial
warmth. Violent exercise, with artificial breathing, was kept up some