Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by Tichnor andFields, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District ofMassachusetts.
Transcriber's Note: Minor typos have been corrected and footnotes movedto the end of the article. Table of contents has been created for the HTML version.
WEAK LUNGS, AND HOW TO MAKE THEM STRONG.
VIOLET-PLANTING.
PAUL BLECKER.
THE HANCOCK HOUSE AND ITS FOUNDER.
WHY THOMAS WAS DISCHARGED.
LIGHT AND DARK.
WET-WEATHER WORK.
THE MEMBER FROM FOXDEN.
MOUNTAINS AND THEIR ORIGIN.
CAMILLA'S CONCERT.
SPRING AT THE CAPITAL.
THE HORRORS OF SAN DOMINGO.
REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES.
The highest medical authorities of this century have expressed theopinion that tubercular disease of the various tissues is justlychargeable with one-third of the deaths among the youth and adults ofthe civilized world. The seat of this tubercular disease is, in greatpart, in the lungs.
Before the taint is localized, it is comparatively easy to remove it. Ifin regard to most other maladies it may be said that "an ounce ofprevention is worth a pound of cure," in reference to tubercularconsumption it may be truly declared that an ounce of prevention isworth tons of cure.
Had the talent and time which have been given to the treatment ofconsumption been bestowed upon its causes and prevention, the percentageof mortality from this dreaded disease would have been greatly reduced.
Genuine consumption does not originate in a cold, an inflammation, or ahemorrhage, but in tubercles. And these tubercles are only secondarycauses. The primary cause is a certain morbid condition of the organism,known as the tubercular or scrofulous diathesis. This morbid conditionof the general system is sometimes hereditary, but much more frequentlythe result of unphysiological habits. Those cases to which our ownerrors give rise may be prevented, and a large proportion of those whohave inherited consumptive taint may by wise hygiene be saved.
Consumption is not a Local Disease.—It is thought to be a malady ofthe lungs. This notion has led to most of the mistakes in its treatment.
Salt rheum appears on the hand. Some ignorant physician says, "It is adisease of the skin." An ointment is applied; the eruption disappears.Soon, perchance, the same scrofulous taint appears in the lungs in theform of tubercles. The doctor cannot get at it there with his ointment,and resorts to inhalation. He is still determined to apply his drug toth