black, hazel, and grey, with the darker and lighter shades of the two latter, so that blue was included in the grey. The number of investigations was 1000, and of these 74.0 per cent. had grey eyes, 23'0 per cent. had hazel, and not 1 per cent. had black eyes, so that the preponderance of one colour was very marked. The grey colour prevailed in the men, and the hazel in the women; the per-centage of the two colours being, in women 69 and 26, and in men 77 and 20.

The Complexion.-The colour of complexion in the phthisical patients is not that which had existed in the same person in health, but we found no difficulty in ascertaining whether the natural tint of the complexion had been coloured or pale, and the replies of 1000 persons were arranged under these two heads. The coloured complexion was found in 58.3, and the pale in 40 per cent. There was also a considerable preponderance of the florid complexion in females over males, whilst the pale was noticed reversely in nearly an equal proportion. The actual frequency was: florid, 65 per cent. females, and 53 per cent. males; pale, 34 per cent. females, and 44 per cent. males.

The Habit of Body.-The inquiries were made from 1000 patients under the four heads of rounded, spare, muscular, and bony; but for this analysis we have arranged the answers under two only, viz., fleshy and spare. The general returns showed singular equality, for 45'8 were fleshy, and 51.9 per cent. were naturally spare; but there was a marked difference in the two sexes, since 60 per cent. of the women had been fleshy, and 37 per cent. spare, whilst of the men 33 per

cent. only had been fleshy, and 61 per cent. had been

spare.

The Degree of Excitability.—We sought to elicit this fact by ascertaining if in good health the patients had exhibited evidences of an excitable, firm, or languid. temperament, and as the first greatly preponderated, it will suffice if we quote the returns. Of 1000 persons, 71 per cent. exhibited the excitable or susceptible temperament, and the proportion was nearly equally distributed in the two sexes, since in females it was 75, and in males 68 per cent.

We have thus endeavoured to epitomise the results of this part of a very laborious inquiry into the etiology of phthisis, to which we shall have to recur on numerous occasions. As a general expression of the whole, it may be stated that there is the greatest diversity in all the points of inquiry in phthisical persons in this country, but there is a preponderance of cases with grey eyes, florid complexion, fleshy habit of body, and excitability of temperament. Whether however, they differ in these respects from the community at large has not yet been determined. In reference to the sexes, the females constituted the greater proportion of the cases with dark hair, hazel eyes, florid complexion, and fleshy habit, whilst there was much equality in reference to pale complexions and excitability of temperament.

In the following chapters we shall consider the state of the several functions of the body in the two classes of cases just indicated, and shall have occasion sometimes to refer to them separately.

CHAPTER V.

MENTAL AND NERVOUS ORGANISATION.

THE general condition of the nervous system in the sanguineous cases is marked by sensibility and excitability. The spirits are greatly elated under pleasing circumstances, so that the vivacity is beyond that of health, whilst at other times there is sudden and unaccountable depression, rapidly alternating with the former and becoming more marked by contrast. The elation is chiefly found after the breakfast hour and until the afternoon, whilst the depression follows fatigue, precedes the meals, and is common in the evening and the early morning, before and at the hour of rising. In the middle hours of the day the spirits readily answer every call, but in the evening they are not only low, but they do not readily obey the impulses which at other periods excite them.

The same remarks also apply to the general nervous organism so far as relates to its increased excitability, for it is unusually sensitive to all impressions, whether pleasing or painful. The influence of sudden impressions, whether of mental emotions or of physical occurrences, is increased, so that shock, whether of the mental or general nervous organism, is more easily

induced. Fear more certainly paralyses, pleasure exhilarates, pain exhausts, and cold revulses than under ordinary conditions. The influence of the period of the day is different from that which is found in reference to the spirits, for the increased excitability is the greatest in the evening, night, and early morning, and the body is then the most liable to be injured by adverse agencies.

If we now turn to the patients of a lymphatic temperament, we commonly find that the spirits are depressed under all conditions and at every period of the day, whilst the degree of sensibility of the general organism remains unchanged.

Hence in a large number of cases it will be found that there is much diversity in the sensitiveness of the mental and general organisation; and when we add to this the influence of the events of life upon the masses of the community, we shall readily admit that, whilst there may be much diversity in degree, there will be great uniformity in the occurrence of the fact of depressed spirits and disturbance of the general sensibility.

CHAPTER VI.

ALIMENTATION.

The whole of the processes concerned in the function of alimentation are commonly lessened in vigour.

This proposition we believe to have the widest application, and yet at the same time to have only a limited force.

APPETITE.

The appetite seldom remains natural, but is somewhat lessened in respect of food in general and of some foods in particular, and is commonly wayward and uncertain.

There are, doubtless, many cases in which no noticeable change of the appetite has occurred, for, since men usually take more food than they strictly need, and the appetite falls into a routine course, there may be a certain diminution in and variation of it before the change is noticed, but we venture to affirm that on careful inquiry it will be admitted that the appetite is not so good as was formerly the case. The period of the day when it is in the greatest defect is the morning.

Whilst pursuing an inquiry into certain circumstances met with in phthisical patients, we thought it would be of interest to ascertain in what degree the