Pulmonary Consumption: That Fatal Destroyer of Man! Its Curability Demonstrated on Natural Principles Alone, Combining Medicated Air, Medicated Inhalation, and Natural Hygiene (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from Pulmonary Consumption: That Fatal Destroyer of Man! Its Curability Demonstrated on Natural Principles Alone, Combining Medicated Air, Medicated Inhalation, and Natural HygieneIt never was designed, in the structure of man, that his existence should be consumed in premature decay; that he should pass away from the stage of life at that moment when every thing around points his hopes and aspirations to the activity of being. Such, however, is too often his destiny; but the result is chiefly owing to the many arts to which he is reduced, in society, for the sustenance of that life so munificently bestowed upon him. To meet and, if possible, to avert the evil by all the means within his art is the business of the physician. Nothing fills the heart of a generous physician with greater sorrow and more anxious solicitude than to see the young, the beautiful, the good, sinking, still unhindered by his remedies and unaided by his art. When these turn to him their appealing eyes, as to a "Priest of the holy flame of life," it is then the man of sympathy feels the heavy responsibility of his profession. If, under such circumstances, he finds himself compelled to pronounce the disease incurable, how unsatisfactory are his remedial efforts! He may endeavor to smooth the pillow, but can not hope to save his patient from an inevitable doom.The treatment of Pulmonary Consumption, until within a very few years, has been involved in the greatest uncertainty and darkness. By universal consent among the uneducated, and with few and solitary exceptions among the profession, the disease has ever been regarded as incurable. No art of medicine, it was thought, could drive out or destroy this enemy of human life, when once it had gained possession of the lungs.Thenceforward it was left to revel at pleasure among the delicate air-cells; to ravage as it would the fine, membranous surface of this exquisite organ of breath to choke with tubercles, or corrode with ulcers, this inlet and gatherer of life. The remedies applied were of a character by no means suited to the nature of the disease; the mode of administering them still less so.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.