timate of
the malady was right, but would accelerate death if the lungs were
really affected. Persuaded that, in the then state of medical knowledge,
the girl's life could not be saved, if the disease was really phthisis,
and knowing that, if it was not the case, the potion was calculated to
do good, I did not prevent the doctors from acting according to their
own convictions.

The potion was administered accordingly, and the girl soon fell into a
calm and tranquil sleep, from which, to the surprise and consternation
of the physicians, she never awoke.

The body was examined, and on the right lung were found pimples, small
indeed, but visible to the naked eye, which, on closer examination with
the microscope, proved to be incipient tubercles; the left lung was
similarly affected. These incipient tubercles, though sufficient to
cause languor and debility, by attracting the vitality of the body, had
not yet become of sufficient size and virulence to affect her breathing;
hence her lungs were considered sound by the doctors, who only regarded
the usual tests.

I called together the principal physicians, chemists and heads of
science, and requested them carefully to study this formidable disease;
and, after a time, the discovery was made that all the most fatal cases
of consumption were ushered in by the appearance on the lungs of minute
incipient spots, which attract and feed on the vital juices of the body.
These spots swell gradually into pimples of a reddish hue, on which
ultimately a small yellow head appears. This breaks in due course, and
the matter discharged spreads, combines, and assists in the growth and
accumulation of other and larger tubercles, which cause much pain,
greatly impede the passage of the air, and eventually carry off the
patient.

Although pain is sometimes felt in the earlier stages of the malady, the
passage of the air through the lungs is not as yet affected to any very
perceptible extent. It was also found that the ordinary symptoms
accompanying the presence of these spots were similar to those produced
by many other causes; so that the symptoms of one disease might easily
be mistaken for--as was actually the case--those of another.

The tests hitherto used were thus clearly shown to be insufficient for
detecting the disease, until the tubercles had assumed a size and
virulence sufficient to affect the breathing,--until, in fact, the
malady was too often beyond cure.

After some time