probably a wise provision that they are not. Consumptives should be
careful to remember their great responsibility in forming alliances
whereby this terrible evil is perpetuated. There should be some law
enacted prohibiting the marriage of confirmed cases of scrofula,
consumption, and insanity, even though complete recovery be had, as
frequently happens in these difficulties.

The dyspeptic cases are numerous, and arise usually from general
debility, caused by insufficient or unwholesome diet, close apartments,
a too sedentary life, long depression of spirits, coupled with, perhaps,
uncleanliness and irregularities, all contributing to this result. These
can all be relieved, and many fully restored, if taken in season, by a
counter course of living.

The catarrhal forms of consumption are more difficult to treat, and, in
numberless instances, baffle all medical skill, and that is very
trifling, which can be applied directly to the seat of trouble. Repeated
"colds in the head," taken and neglected, become by-and-by confirmed,
and pass from the rank of common colds to that of chronic catarrh.
Indeed, catarrh is no more or less than a chronic cold in the head; but
after the lapse of time, and this may vary in different persons, from
one to a score or more of years, it assumes a more virulent character,
involving, perhaps, the whole of the breathing apparatus. Its
encroachments are insidious, and often are lightly considered, but the
general tendency of all cases of catarrhal affections is to the lungs.
Sometimes this approach is by a sudden leap, in consequence, probably,
of a fresh stock of "cold," from the mucous membranes of the nasal
organs to the lungs, and we have in such cases known one of the most
eminent physicians of the country to declare, when examinations were
made at this juncture, that "catarrh had nothing to do with it." This