, and
he continued to prosecute that employment for a period of 15 years, when
he was obliged to relinquish the work on account of an affection of the
chest, being, as he termed it, "touched in the breath." During the
subsequent 15 years of his life, he had never once entered a coal-pit,
nor had he any connexion with coal-works, but earned his bread by the
trade of a travelling merchant. He had suffered much in his wanderings,
from his breathing,[15] for more than two years continuously, while loss
of appetite, and thoracic irritation, had rendered his physical frame as
weak as that of a child.

When I first saw this man, which was about a month before his death, he
laboured under rending cough, with a scanty tough mucous
expectoration--oppressive dyspnoea, ascites, general anasarca,
occasional giddiness, and throbbing headach on motion, or on assuming
the standing position. His countenance was of a light blue or slate
colour, and his upper and lower extremities had much the same
appearance. His lips, eyelids, ears, and nose, were swollen and livid,
and his eye-balls effused, and apparently projecting from the sockets.
His sight was impaired and hazy. There was continued feeling of cold,
with occasional rigors, and difficulty in keeping the extremities warm.
There was considerable exhaustion upon the slightest exertion. The half
reclining posture was the only one in which he was comfortable. The
pulse was exceedingly slow, not above 36 in the minute, it was small,
and often imperceptible at the wrist. There was considerable weight and
feeling of oppressive fulness in the region of the heart, which was dull
on percussion. On applying the ear to the chest, little or no rale
whatever was discernible, and the action of the heart was almost
inaudible. He had a sensation as of great weight in the head, and
difficulty in raising it. Ho suffered from restless nights, short
hurried breathing, with a feeling and dread of suffocation, evident
fulness and enlargement in the region of liver, and inability to turn to
the right side. The urine was small in quantity, of a bluish colour, and
coagulable, irritability of stomach, and the bowels were obstinate and
difficult to move, even with drastic purgatives. The treatment was
merely palliative, no stimulant seemed to have any effect in exciting
the system. Ascites and general anasarca were considerable, giving the
body a large appearance. For some days previous to his dissolution,
the