inflamed part of the lung, the exact situation of which may be ascertained by the stethoscope, is a powerful auxiliary to the venesection; and, in many cases, if resorted to after the application of leeches, may render it unnecessary to incur the inconvenience of a general bleeding. Irritations of the larynx and trachea (windpipe), and also of the bronchial ramifications, may generally be alleviated by these means, and by other methods of producing external irritation; as well as that distressing disturbance of the stomach which is exceedingly troublesome to the greater number of phthisical patients. With the same intentions, various soothing medicines, chiefly mucilaginous and anodyne, are found to be serviceable; and the adoption of a system of diet which is moderately nutritious, but from which every thing that could cause excitement is carefully excluded. Every part of the regimen of the patient should be so ordered as to conform to this system; violent bodily and mental exertions, late hours, exposure to vicissitudes of weather, insufficient clothing and every kind of irregularity are to be diligently avoided.

By the early and rigid adoption of measures of this kind, many individuals in whose lungs tubercles actually exist, are enabled to maintain a condition of health very little interrupted, and the duration of life may, in some cases, be greatly prolonged. Both of the indications already mentioned are indeed thus simultaneously accomplished.

In variable climates like our own there is always an additional difficulty to be contended against, arising out of the perpetual irritation of the air-passages, by the actual contact and unavoidable reception of the air itself. If, desirous altogether to avoid this inconvenience, the patient is restricted to the air of rooms of which the temperature is carefully regulated, the want of invigorating freshness is too often productive of general effects which induce some other disadvantages, both as regards the general health and the pulmonary disease; and if attempts are made to secure the benefit of that freshness which the external air alone can impart, hardly any care or watching can long prevent some accidental exposure which brings on an aggravation of symptoms which it is most desirable to repel. The hope of securing the advantage, without incurring the counterbalancing disadvantages, produces the numerous annual migrations of the consumptive to various parts of foreign countries and of our own; and these again impart a high degree of interest to the character of particular countries of the continent, or of particular islands to which so many sail in quest of health, or of particular parts of our own island, to which those who are unwilling or unable to leave their native country commonly resort. The desired climate for a consumptive patient

VOL. VII. NO. XIII.

F

is one which is dry, warm or temperate, and subject to few vicissitudes. There is, unfortunately, much difficulty is finding such a climate in our own country. We may obtain warmth in Devonshire, and generally along the southern coast of England; but not warmth with dryness, or warmth free from vicissitudes. Dryness is to be found on the heights of Clifton or Malvern, but dryness without sufficient warmth, or sufficient protection from severe winds. The sheltered vallies in the neighbourhood of Clifton, or the coast of Devonshire, or the southern parts of the Isle of Wight, seem to afford the best winter residence. During that season the temperature of Devonshire is 5° above that of London. Hastings, and the beautiful part of the Isle of Wight called Undercliff, are perhaps the most sheltered from the piercing winds of spring. In the heat of summer, the heights of Clifton or of Malvern offer some advantages; and during the autumnal heats, probably no situation is better than Brighton.

Yet

That which gives to any one place or district a decided superiority over another, is the equal distribution of heat throughout its year. A climate, like that of Paris, where the heat of summer is very great, and the coldness of the winter excessive, is worse for the consumptive patient than any part of our own island. patients are sometimes contented to " go abroad for their health," leaving their residence to be determined by accident; and seeming to imagine that some peculiar virtue is attached to every acre of a foreign soil. But the same country, or certainly a country so extensive as France, may contain climates of the most opposite character. That of the south-east of France, for instance, differs exceedingly from that of the south-west of that country, which, like the south-west parts of England, is warm and relaxing, but subject to violent winds; whilst that of the south-east, although 3° above the south-west in mere temperature, is subject to sharper winds, which try the consumptive invalid much more severely. No where in Europe is there perfect shelter from the winds of the spring. Even at Nice, where the winter is so mild, the months of March and April are particularly unsuitable to pulmonary invalids; and the same may be said of Montpellier and Marseilles. There are spots in Italy which are less exposed to these disadvantages. Yet even in Rome, distinguished for its soft and delightful air, and for its general dryness, it is very common in spring to have cold winds prevailing until sunset; and the malária renders it an undesirable residence in the summer. The winter of Naples is well adapted to an invalid; but at Naples also they complain of the coldness of the spring. Sumner, too, brings its disadvantages in a warm climate; although there are situations in the neighbourhood of that city which are considered agreeable even in that season; but excepting such situations, and the baths

of Lucca, the warmth of an Italian summer is much too great for invalids to bear with impunity. For this reason the suffering patient is often compelled to undertake a fatiguing journey, either to England or into Switzerland, or to what seems better than either, for a summer residence, to Ems on the Rhine. By a sufficiently prolonged residence at any one of the places which we have mentioned, particularly if care is taken to guard the invalid from the particular vicissitudes which are found most to distress him, we feel confident that the progress of consumption may be delayed, and all the inevitable irritations attending its progress much alleviated.

More sanguine hopes arise at the mention of the island of Madeira; which boasts of a climate far superior to that of France, or of any part of Italy; and one which combines the requisites both for a summer and a winter place of residence. Almost wholly exempt from the keen winds which prevail so generally over the European continent, and enjoying a high winter temperature, the equability of its climate is quite remarkable; and the summer is not so hot as to drive away those who seek its shelter from the severe winter of their own land. Thus it is stated by Dr. Clark, in his very valuable work on the Influence of Climate in the Cure of Diseases, that whilst the Madeira winter is 20° warmer than that of London, the summer-heat of Madeira only exceeds that of London by 7°; and whilst the winter at Madeira is 12° warmer than the winter in Italy, the Madeira summer is 5° cooler than the Italian summer. Nor are the variations of temperature from day to day sudden or considerable; and the rain which falls is commonly confined to the autumnal season. So that, altogether, there does not seem to be on the face of the globe a place more likely to preserve the life of those threatened or affected with consumption than Madeira. Still, it is to be remembered, that such is the state of the lungs in confirmed consumption, that much relief, or much prolongation of life, are not to be expected in any climate whatever; and that the cases benefited even by the salubrious air of Madeira are incipient cases. Of these, a large majority undergo such improvement as to maintain a very high character for the island as a place of refuge for consumptive invalids.

On the whole, a consideration of the nature of tubercles, and of the inevitable changes which they undergo, and the testimony of all experience, do but too strongly confirm the opinion, that human resources against the fatal progress of consumption are few and limited in power; that the retardation of the malady, and some mitigation of its attendant inconveniences, are nearly all that can be hoped for; and that perfect recovery, where the tuber

cles are numerous and far advanced, is not, under any circumstances, to be expected. In the retardation of the malady, however, and, we would add, in its prevention in persons predisposed to it by birth or natural constitution, so much may yet be done by careful diet and regimen, by attention to clothing, and exercise more especially, as well to reward the pains required to order these particulars properly and effectually.

That tubercles already deposited in the lungs may be removed by absorption, or that the constitution can be supported through the processes by which even a large collection of them might possibly be eliminated from the lungs, are things which yet exist only in the dreams of the sanguine, or in the bold promises of those whom ignorance endows with confidence. That the public should readily believe in the curative power of inhalation, or in the efficacy of barbarous methods of destroying large portions of the integuments of the body by corrosive substances, unknown in medicine, and presumptuously borrowed from the coarser arts, can only, we fear, be regarded as a proof of the limited diffusion, even in these times, of really useful knowledge.

ART. IV.-1. Hinterlassene Schriften von Carl Maria von Weber, herausgegeben von Theodore Hell. (Posthumous works of Carl Maria von Weber, published by Theodore Hell.) Dresden, und Leipzig, 1828. 3 vols. 18mo.

2. Lebensbeschreibung von Carl Maria von Weber. (Life of ditto.) Gotha. 1829. 4to.

MR. THEODORE HELL," a name unmusical to Volscian ears," announces himself as the executor of Weber and guardian of his sons; and in this capacity of executor he has laid before the public the posthumous works of his deceased friend, accompanied with various dissertations of his own, critical and biographical. We are sorry we cannot congratulate him either on the care or judgment with which he has performed his task; his materials follow each other in most admired disorder;-now a portion of a romance by Weber himself; now, a thin layer of biography from Mr. Hell: then a set of musical critiques and occasional notices of matters musical by Weber; then, another portion of his biography by the executor "in linked sweetness long drawn out:"-then Weber and his criticisms again. But want of order is not all we have to complain of. Musicians, who cannot afford time, like Gretry, to exhibit a portrait of their own mind, should at least confide their musical MS. to a musical executor. Their life is not safe in any other hands. What the public expect from the biographer of Weber is a sketch at least of the peculiar

features of his mind as an artist, of the gradual culture by which it was formed, the circumstances which furthered and the obstacles that repressed its progress;-his habits of study and composition, and some attempt to trace those influences which, operating upon his peculiar temperament, gave rise to that wild spirit of romance which breathes through his compositions. What Mr. Hell on the contrary gives us, is a long prosing discussion on his literary abilities as a poet and a novelist, in which field the executor seems to look upon him as another Salvator; vague and general tirades about his wit, humour and conversational powers, and the cordial fellowship in which he lived with Kind the editor, and some other of the better spirits of Dresden; while with regard to the immortal part of him, his habits and efforts as a musicianevery thing which gives importance or value to the other trifles, his book preserves a decorous silence; Hamlet, in short, is entirely omitted in his own play.

Probably the same reasons which led the country manager to the suppression of the part of the Prince of Denmark have weighed with Mr. Hell. He feels he has no one to take the part. In stage language, Mr. Hell cannot double the musical critic with the literary; and so consoling himself with the reflection that Weber's fame as a musician will probably stand high enough without his aid, he devotes himself, with much executorial piety, to the task of elevating his nuga literaria to a corresponding altitude.

We fear, therefore, that any information we may have it in our power to communicate through the medium of this work, must be meagre and scanty; but with the aid of one or two other sources we shall endeavour to lay before our readers some authentic particulars relative to this great, we may truly add this good, man. Some features of his mind, we think, will be clear enough from this sketch, others will be indicated more or less plainly; where we can avail ourselves of his own correspondence or remarks we shall allow him to speak for himself; where we are destitute of information, we shall leave the blank to be filled up by some future biographer.

The

Weber was born at Eutin, in Holstein, on the 18th Dec. 1786. Like almost every other great composer, his father was a musician. He was an accomplished violinist, and at an early period anxiously devoted himself to the education of his son. retired habits of his family, his early intercourse with persons older than himself, and his seclusion from the society of rude and boisterous playmates, soon excited in his mind a disposition to thought, and taught him to live in a world of his own imagination. "I heated my fancy," says Weber in a letter to a friend, written