one-fifth of the mortality of our large cities is produced by it. (Emerson.) Go therefore, clothe your negroes better and take more care of them, and you may prevent what we cannot Thus we would speak to the owners of slaves.

cure.

In the course of the last five or six years we have had the opportunity of making autopsical examinations of sixteen cases of this disease, the pathological appearances in all of which were remarkably similar. In the first case, of a negro woman aged about 25 years, the head was not examined. Thorax-Immediately below the sternum I observed several small glands filled with crude tuberculous matter. The left lung was firmly united to the side from apex to base by granulated adhesions of the opposite surfaces of the pleura. On ncising the lung in different places we found it perfectly disorganized by tubercles in various stages of development. Small abscesses, granules and crude tubercular matter occupied all its substance; right lung firmly adherent in places, and the pleura and lung filled with tubercles; the left pericardium distended with serum; the heart rather soft and flabby. Abdomen.-On opening the abdomen I found the opposite surfaces of the peritoneum cemented together, highly inflamed and filled with tubercles; the intestines united by adhesions of false membrane filled with tubercles; the mesenteric glands greatly enlarged and filled with crude tuberculous matter. Liver-some small tubercles upon its peritoneal surface and in its substance. Spleen-several tubercles on its surface and two large abcesses in its substance. Kidneys contained tubercles. This woman sat up, and even walked about until the evening before she died; she ate cabbage and such other articles of diet for dinner, and went to bed as well as usual in the evening, but next morning was found dead in her bed. On opening the stomach it appeared sound

and contained several articles of diet in a half digested state. I will here remark that in four instances of this disease, to my knowledge, death occurred in the same sudden and unexpected manner. One of these cases I examined, and found, in addition to the usual extensive tubercular deposits in the viscera of the thorax and abdomen, a highly diseased condition of the heart. The pericardium was filled with a reddish serum. The external surface of the heart had the appearance of being blistered, and around the apex was coagulable lymph of recent deposit; the muscular substance was very soft, so that the finger could be readily pushed through it. In this case disease of the heart was predicted, from the unusual throbbing and uneasy feeling about its seat, upon very slight exertion, and also from the very tremulous pulse, and sometimes almost pulseless condition of the wrist. I was assisted in this examination by Drs. Law and Davidson, of Columbia.

I will mention a circumstance connected with another case, which as it gave rise to much doubt as to the true nature of the patient's complaint, may possibly aid others in their diag nosis. A negro man, aged about 20 years, who had the usual symptoms of negro consumption applied to me for assistance, stating that he had tried others without benefit, and that he was poisoned he was somewhat emaciated, with a quick and tremulous pulse, great debility, shortness of breath, and abdomen distended with a dropsical effusion; appetite tolerably good; but that which distressed him most was "something beating in his belly." Upon examination I found a pulsating tumour about the size of an orange, a little above and to the left of the umbilicus, but which could be very indistinctly felt at the time in consequence of the fluid in the abdomen. This tumour was thought by many to be aneu rism of the aorta, and gave rise to much doubt in the minds

of all. I regarded his case however as hopeless, and put him upon a mild palliative course of treatment; but with this he soon become dissatisfied and in a few days applied to a Root Doctor, who agreed with him that he was poisoned, and treated him for poison several weeks, during all which time he become more and more emaciated. He at length applied to a Steam Doctor by whom he was very speedily despatched. I accidentally heard of his death, and Dr. A. H. Brown of this place and myself opened him in his grave two nights afterwards, and by moonlight dissected out the tumour, which we found upon examination to be a mass of tubercular matter in the mesentery, which pressed upon the aorta, with sufficient force to receive and transmit its pulsatory movements through the parietes of the abdomen. It is scarcely necessary to detail the appearances of another case. Certainly in all instances the tuberculous deposits are not so great as in the first case above mentioned, but it is a very fair representative of all. I will further mention that in all cases where the stomach was examined its internal structure appeared sound, but in all the instances, (six in number,) where I have examined the intestinal mucous membrane, it has presented extensive and deep ulcerations. In one case the ulcerations had perforated the serous coat in several places, but these perforations were prevented from opening into the cavity of the peritoneum by adhesions of false membrane and tubercular lumps, which projected into the cavity of the bowels. I was assisted in the examination of this case by Dr. Brown, of this place. In another case the duodenum, through its whole length, was dotted with small superficial ulcerations, the size of a ten cent piece or smaller; the coats of this bowel however were very much thickened and indurated, and in the remainder of the intestines were ulcers, but particularly numer

1

ous in the last twelve or eighteen inches of the small intestines. Dr. Law was present at the examination of this case. The last case of this disease which I examined was during the last summer. I rode twelve miles to see it in order to satisfy the mind of the master, who was under the impression that his slave was poisoned. The case was a negro man, aged about 35 years; I was accompanied by three or four students of medicine who were anxious to see the cavity of the abdomen and its contents, which I had promised to shew them. I made the common crucial incision through the parietes of the abdomen, but could find no cavity. The opposite surfaces of the peritoneum adhered so firmly, and the spaces between the convolutions of the intestines were so filled with lymph, false membrane, tuberculous, and dark colored matter, that the whole presented a mass of disease impossible to describe, and which time did not permit us to investigate. It would have taken hours of tedious and careful dissection to have even separated the abdominal parietes from the intestines. I was more lucky in showing the viscera of the thorax, for here I found them less diseased than is common. The lungs contained some tubercles and small abcesses. Heart sound.

There were no remarkable symptoms in this case that authorized the belief of such extensive disease in the abdomen, and what is a remarkable fact, he bore pressure upon the abdomen without complaint. He suffered from ascites in the course of his disease, but the water was purged off some weeks before he died.

Treatment. I have nothing to offer as a remedy for this complaint, every article that I have tried having seemed but to aggravate the symptoms, at least doing no good. Bleeding and purging are highly injurious as they prostrate at once, and counter-irritants, as blisters, setons, issues, and tartar emetic

pustulations, have all been tried without any benefit. Tonics have had a better effect than all other remedies; but I have never known them to cure a case. Perhaps in the earliest stages of the disease, when unfortunately we are never consulted, some of the preparations of iron might be used with benefit.

October, 1840.

ART. II.-Cases Illustrative of the Beneficial Effects of the Oil of Turpentine. By Dr. JOHN BENNETT, late of Newport, Kentucky.

HÆMORRHOIDS. In July, 1830, having charge of the health of the troops, at the United States Arsenal in Newport, a recruit who labored under piles of long standing and aggravated character, was attacked with colic. The abdomen was much distented. I ordered him el. ricini 3i. combined with 3ij. of oil of turpentine. On my visit the next day, I found him relieved from colic and decidedly better of the piles. The turpentine was continued for a few days, and the patient returned to duty free from the disease.

Since that time I have given the castor oil and turpentine, in that disease with uniform success.

WORMS. For several years I have laid aside the usual vermifuges, and given the turpentine exclusively in cases of worms, and it has rarely disappointed my expectations. In the convulsions of children, ascribed to worms, I have given the turpentine and oil with the happiest effects, when no worms passed off. If the convulsions of children arise from some other irritation of the mucous membrane of the stom