her weight has increased two pounds, and her bowels, previously disordered, have become regular.

These results are very similar to those which we have learnt to expect from the administration of cod-liver oil, but not more marked than those which we find induced by the oil of neat's-foot. Of three patients who have been under the use of that medicine for a month, you perceive from the table that one of them, W. J., has gained more than three pounds in weight; another, P. D., six; and in both these instances there is also in other respects as much improvement as could possibly be expected in so short a period.

M. M., a member of a consumptive family, and in whom you conclude, from the prolonged expiratory murmur below the sternal half of the left collar-bone, that phthisis has commenced, was put under the use of phosphoretted almond oil, a grain being dissolved in a pint of the oil, and two drachms of this mixture given twice or thrice daily, with some advantage, especially as evinced by a considerable increase of weight. The remedy has been discontinued in consequence of the bowels becoming relaxed. It is, however, doubtful whether this occurrence is attributable to the administration of phosphorus, for in several other instances it has not been observed: for example, in the case of C. H. Another patient, S. K., affected with phthisis in the third stage on the right, and in the first stage on the left side, took cod-liver oil first, for two months, as an out-patient, and subsequently in the hospital for about the same period; but she continually lost ground, and her weight declined from eight stone, twelve pounds, in August, to eight stone, three pounds, in November.

I then substituted phosphoretted almond-oil for that of the cod-liver, and in a week the pulse became slower and the weight increased. The amelioration, however, proved temporary, and she left the hospital only slightly benefited. I am sorry to say, that in most of my experiments with phosphoretted oil, this has been the result, as though the phosphorus, although affording a favourable stimulus for a short time, yet had its good effect from some cause or other speedily exhausted.

In the table of the constituents of cod-oil, you will observe that phosphorus enters in sufficient quantity to deserve attention. Whether this substance be inherent in minute portions of liver intermixed with the oil, or is a natural element of the remedy, may be a question, but it was the circumstance of its presence in cod-oil which induced me to try whether the addition of phosphorus would in any way assimilate the effect of this vegetable oil to that of the oil from cod's liver; and although the benefit derived has proved transient, it is sufficient to warrant a repetition of the experiment. There may be cases in which a favourable turn may be given to the condition of the patient by its use, and the way be thus prepared for the successful adoption of other measures; and I cannot help suspecting that the phosphorus present in cod oil does contribute some share to the happy influence of that remedy. There are, indeed, scientific reasons for suspecting that the introduction of phosphorus into the system may exert an influence on the respiratory process, and on the condition of the blood. The important function of the lungs is to convert venous into arterial blood. It has long been known that oxygen is concerned in effect

H

ing this change. Dr. Stevens, however, showed that another cause,—namely, the presence of neutral salts, -could accomplish the change, even when no oxygen was introduced. It has been further proved that more oxygen is absorbed during respiration than is accounted for by the quantity of carbonic acid exhaled. How are these facts to be harmonized? I suspect that some experiments of Dr. G. O. Rees,* which appear to me replete with interest, may assist us in explaining the relation of these facts. Dr. Rees has shown, in those observations, that venous blood contains much phosphorized fat, but little phosphate of soda, whilst arterial blood contains a small proportion of phosphorized fat, but a large amount of phosphates; an important part of sanguification appearing to consist in a gradual conversion of the alkaline lactate and albuminate of soda present in the chyle, into phosphates.

If there were time to indulge in speculation, I might suggest several practical applications of the conclusion above mentioned, but I will content myself with proposing the inquiry, whether an additional supply of phosphorus, by attracting oxygen in the process just noticed, may not tend in consumptive patients to lessen the unfavourable oxidation by which pus is largely formed in the lungs. An excess of oxygen in the lungs is considered favourable to the process of suppuration, but if any superfluous oxygen is occupied in the conversion of phosphorized fat into phosphates, the healthy processes might be promoted in consequence of that very excess, and the occurrence of the super-oxidation, which would produce pus, be prevented.

*Brewster's Journal of Science, vol. xxxiii.

Such observations and experiments as I have to-day brought before you are not subjects of mere curiosity. The analogous actions of the different remedies introduced prove them to contain similar elements. By contrasting the composition of these substances, we may possibly obtain a key to the discovery of the cause on which their common influence depends, and may apply the knowledge thus obtained to the discovery of a new set of facts which might otherwise have escaped us. Thus the similarity of the influence of neat's-foot oil and cod-liver oil may help us to discover what constituents are unimportant and what essential to the remedial effect of either of these oils.*

Let me incidentally mention that the addition of cow-heel to broths appears considerably to increase their nutrient efficacy, and to be well adapted to the consumptive.

The conclusion to which the observations just detailed conduct us, is, that the other varieties of fish-oil differ from that obtained from the liver, rather in the degree of palatableness, and agreeableness to the stomach, than in any essential difference of virtue; that neat's-foot oil is less strictly similar; modifying the blood indeed in a corresponding manner, but differing from the liver oils in degree of aptitude for assimilation, according to peculiarities in the digestive organs of the individual patient.

* Dr. C. Radclyffe Hall has confirmed the opinion here expressed, of the value of neat's-foot oil, by some independent experiments, and has found this oil useful, especially when a morbidly red and furred tongue rendered the use of cod-liver oil inappropriate. London Monthly Medical Journal, July, 1852, p. 637.