Page:The Harveian oration 1911.djvu/35

30 OLD AND NEW VIEWS ON the beneficial effect of treatment was limited to incipient cases, and especially to those who were able at an early stage to take long voyages, such as those to Australia and to India.”

He adds :—

“My general recollection of the histories of the developed disease at that time is that of distressing tragedies, in which no means used seemed to have any power to arrest the malady ; and life was rarely prolonged beyond the limit of two years, assigned by Laennec and Louis as the average duration of the life of a consumptive.

“Tn the next period of ten years (from 1840 to 1850) a marked improvement took place in the results of treatment, apparently in connection with the allowance of a more liberal diet, and the habitual use of mild alterative tonics, as they might be termed, particularly iodide of potassium with sarsaparilla, or other vegetable tonics. Several of the early cases recorded were treated in this way and with improved results in respect of the general health of the patients and diminution of cough and expectoration.

“Tt was in the latter part of this period that chemists began to produce cod-liver oil of sufficient purity and freshness to be fit for the human stomach; and I have no hesitation in stating my conviction that this agent has done more for the consumptive than all the other means put together.” �