of the larynx, trachea or bronchi by air which is too dry or which is liable to great changes of temperature. Some cases of phthisis, therefore, do better in warmer and moist climates, and especially those where the larynx has become affected by the disease. Such patients are apt to suffer much from cough and laryngeal irritation in the cold, dry air of the Alps, whereas they live in comparative comfort on the Riviera, in the Canary Islands, Madeira or at Capri. But warm, moist climates rather favour sedentary habits and tend to lessen appetite, so that the nutrition of the patient is apt to suffer; and although phthisical patients may live in comparative comfort in such climates, their tendency to recovery in them is small. At the Swiss health resorts, on the contrary, during the winter the air is very pure, and has just sufficient coldness to make exercise agreeable to patients. They are thus induced to be out the whole day, and to take food with an appetite which greatly improves their nutrition and aids their restoration to health. The best-known Alpine health resorts are St Moritz and Davos, to which lately Grindelwald has been added. St Moritz is, upon the whole, better for less advanced cases, while Davos is more sheltered and better for cases which are severe. It is a mistake, however, to send those in whom the disease is very far advanced away from home and friends, because when there is no hope of cure it is better for them to die in comfort at home. At the health resorts just mentioned the amount of food taken. is regulated by the appetite of the patient himself, but a system of cure has been inaugurated by Dr Brehmer at Gorbersdorf, by Dr Dettweiler at Falkenstein, and by Dr Walther at Nordrach, in the Black Forest. The most important point in this treatment consists in forced feeding, the want of appetite which is so prominent in many cases of phthisis being regarded as an abnormal sensation not to be regarded; and under the forced feeding, combined with open-air life, many marvellous recoveries are recorded. Numerous other institutions have been started in Great Britain in imitation of Dr Walther's with a considerable amount of success. Even when patients are unable' to stay long at a sanatorium they learn there the advantages of open air and can continue the treatment at home to their great advantage.
In the well-known "rest" cure, which we owe to Weir Mitchell, forced feeding takes a prominent part. The essence of this cure is to give to the patient rest, bodily and mental, by confinement to bed and isolation from the outside world. While this treament by itself would aid recovery from nervous exhaustion, it would lessen appetite and thus interfere with nervous repair; but the want of exertion is supplied by means of massage, which stimulates the circulation and increases the appetite, so that the patient gets all the benefit of exercise without any exhaustion. Where nervous exhaustion is less marked and the Weir Mitchell treatment is not appropriate - for example, in men who are simply overworked or broken down by anxiety or sorrow - a sea voyage is often a satisfactory form of "rest" cure. The lack of posts and telegrams prevents much of the excitement which they would have upon shore, the space for exercise is limited, food is abundant and appetite is supplied by the stimulus of constant exposure in the open air. In order that the voyage should be satisfactory, however, it must be sufficiently long, and the weather must be sufficiently warm to allow the patient to stay in the open air the whole day long. During the heat of summer voyages to the North Cape are suitable, and during the spring and autumn to the Mediterranean, but in the colder months of the year the West Indies, India, Cape Town, Australia or New Zealand forms the best objective.
(T. L. B.)
THERESA, ST (1515-1582), or Teresa de Cepeda, Spanish nun, was born at Avila, in Old Castile, on the 28th of March 1515, and was educated in an Augustinian convent in the town. As a child she was interested in the stories of martyrs, and at the age of eighteen left home one morning, and applied for admission at the Carmelite convent of the Incarnation. She was disappointed at first at the slackness of discipline, but she appears afterwards to have accommodated herself with tolerable success to the worldliness of her environment, though not without intervals of religious misgiving. It was in the year 1554, when she was nearly forty, that the event known as her conversion took place, and the second part of her life began. The death of her father roused her to serious reflection, and one day, as she entered the oratory, she was struck by the image of the wounded Christ, placed there for an approaching festival. She fell in tears at the feet of the figure, and felt every worldly emotion die within her. The shock threw her into a trance, and these trances, accompanied by visions, recurred frequently in the subsequent part of her life. They have since been adduced as Divine attestations of her saintship, but the sisterhood in the convent set them down to possession by a devil; her new departure was due in their eyes to no worthier motive than the desire to be peculiar and to be reputed better than other people. Teresa herself was very humble, and thought their explanation might be true; she took her case to her confessor and to the provincial-general of the Jesuits, who put her under a course of discipline. One day, while thus occupied, her trance came upon her, and she heard a voice say, " Though shalt have no more converse with men, but with angels." After this the trance or fit always returned when she was at prayers, and she felt that Christ was close to her. Presently she was able to see Him, "exactly as He was painted rising from the sepulchre." Her confessor directed her to exorcise the figure, and she obeyed with pain, but, it is needless to say, in vain. The visions grew more and more vivid. The cross of her rosary was snatched from her hand one day, and when returned it was made of jewels more brilliant than diamonds, visible, however, to her alone. She had often an acute pain in her side, and fancied that an angel came to her with a lance tipped with fire, which he struck into her heart. The 27th of August is kept sacred in Spain to this mystery, which has also formed a favourite subject of Spanish painters. She had also visions of another description: she was shown hell with its horrors, and the devil would sit upon her breviary, belabour her with blows, and fill her cell with imps. For several years these experiences continued, and the verdict as to their source still remained far from unanimous. Meanwhile, the spread of the Refcrmation became the subject of much searching of hearts to pious Catholics. Teresa reflected like the rest, and her experience led her to find the real cause of the catastrophe in the relaxation of discipline within the religious orders. She formed the project of founding a house in which all the original rules of the Carmelite order would be observed. In spite of great opposition from the authorities of the order, and in particular from the prioress and sisters of the Incarnation, she persevered with her scheme, being encouraged to appeal to the pope by certain priests who saw the benefit which would accrue to the Church from her zeal. A private house in Avila was secretly got ready to serve as a small convent, and, when the bull arrived from Rome, Teresa went out on leave from the Incarnation and installed four poor women in the new house dedicated to her patron St Joseph. It was on the 24th of August 1562 that mass was said in the little chapel and the new order constituted. It was to be an order of Descalzos or Barefoots, in opposition to the relaxed parent body, the Calzados. The sisters were not to be literally shoeless, but to wear sandals of rope; they were to sleep on straw, to eat no meat, to be strictly confined to the cloister, and to live on alms without regular endowment. After lodging her four sisters, Teresa returned to the Incarnation; but, when the secret was discovered, Carmelites and townspeople were alike furious. Violence, however, was prevented, and the matter was referred to the council of state at Madrid. Philip II. referred it again to the pope, and after six months a fresh bull arrived from Pius V. The provincial of her order now gave her leave to remove and take charge of her sisterhood. The number of thirteen, to which on grounds of discipline she had limited the foundation, was soon filled up, and Teresa spent here the five happiest years of her life. Her visions continued, and, by command of her ecclesiastical superiors, she wrote her autobiography containing a full account of these experiences,
