This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1855 edition. Excerpt: ... preliminary remarks. The quiver of death has no arrow so fatal as Consumption. In all ages it has been the giant foe of life. It blights the ruddy hue of youth, and cankers the damask cheek of beauty. It invades the domestic circle, and strikes down in the haunts of business and walks of pleasure. Insidious in its commencement, and fatal in its termination, it spares neither age or sex, and extends its ravages to every climate; and, more fearful than the far-famed maladies of Pandora's box, pulmonary consumption has, until very recently, left its victims without hope. It is, therefore, highly "consolatory to know that the influence of medicated inhalations at last bids fair to conquer its fatality. Although the reasonableness and importance of inhalation, or the local application of medicated vapours in diseases of the airpassages and lungs cannot be questioned, it must be admitted that it has not obtained for itself, in this country, that extent of inquiry and examination which it deserves, and which, among our continental brethren, has justly been bestowed upon it. And yet it is not easy to imagine how this mode of treating diseases of the organs of breathing should have been neglected, its feasibility is so self-evident, and in such accordance with the theory, principles, and practice of medical science, and the teachings of common sense; for it is an admitted fact, that remedies directly applied to the absorbing surfaces of the lungs, independently of the specific local influence they exert, are carried into the system, and produce analogous effects as when directed to the surface of the stomach. But there are frequent instances we meet with in actual life, where the duty of inquiry, if not positively, is really evaded; and it was...