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Butler. -- There are well-authenticated cases on record (see Amer. Jour. Med. Sciences, 1871) which seem to favor strongly the idea of its contagious nature, but my opinion is not fully settled, though I am inclined to the belief that, under certain favorable circumstances, it may be communicated from one person to another.

Heath. -- A family which I have occasionally attended as physician has had, within the past two years, four children between the ages of eighteen and thirty-two return home to die of consumption, -- one from Ohio, two from New Jersey, and one from Connecticut. The mother is healthy; the father, now at the age of seventy, is able to labor da a farm, but has been troubled with a bad cough for many years. The most intimate relations and favorable conditions for contagion or infection exist between husband and wife, but I have never known a case to be so communicated.

Gavin. -- I am thoroughly convinced that phthisis is frequently caused by contagion, and deserves to be classed with typhoid fever in this respect. I have seen unmistakable evidence where a healthy wife contracted the disease -- phthisis -- from sleeping with her husband suffering from that disease, and vice versa. So much am I convinced of the truth of this statement that I always forbid a healthy man froni sleeping in the same room with a phthisical patient.

Wilmarth. -- I can mention one marked case. A lady, mother of three girls, belonging to a family apparently free from consumption, became consumptive when the oldest girl was eight or ten years old. She lived about ten years in a consumptive condition. During the last three years of the disease her oldest daughter was her constant attendant and nurse. The breath of the patient was offensive, and she raised large quantities of thick sputa, which had the same offensive smell as the breath. About a year after the mother's death the oldest daughter went into consumption, and presented the same symptoms that her mother did, except that in her case the disease ran its course in a few months. Her death occurred about four years ago. The younger sisters, who were not so much with their mother as the older one, are now living, and apparently well.

Jordan. -- We Very often see one healthy individual who, in the habit of sleeping with a consumptive, follows with the same disease.

NINETEENTH QUESTION.

IS CONSUMPTION EVER CAUSED OR PROMOTED BY AN EXPOSED LOCATION OR RESIDENCE?

The table gives the following results: --

One hundred and twenty-nine of the two hundred and ten (or 61.42 per cent.) think the exposure of a residence may have some effect in this disease, and thirty-eight (18.09 per cent.) deny the fact. Seven (or 3.33 per cent.) are doubtful, and thirty-six (or 17.14 per cent.) do not answer.

One cannot say that the; cause seems to be a prominent one, in the eyes of the majority of our correspondents.

I used the expression "exposed" in order to find, if possible, if the simple exposure to violent atmospheric changes, from the situation of the homestead, tends to promote consumption. The question is in contradistinction to the next question, which has reference to the effect of moisture, and upon which we have no doubt, from investigations made in America and England. I think that my experience justifies me in saying that simple exposure rarely, if ever, causes consumption. But, when combined with moisture of soil in and around houses, it is a prominent fact in the annals of consumption in any community.

Extracts from letters from Correspondents relative to this question.

Ward. -- Dwellings should be exposed to wind and sun.

Burr. -- Consumption occurs as frequently among families who live on the ridge highland as in the other portions of the city.

Spofford. -- If the ground is dry its situation near the water does not affect health. For fifty-three years I have lived near the Merrimac River; am eighty-three years old, -- wife is eighty-one. Can mention seven near neighbors above eighty years. To these may be added, of three hundred deaths (in the course of the last few years) sis, from eighty to eighty-seven; one, ninety-five, and another ninety-seven. In the present population, 1,600, there are now five aged ninety, and twelve between eighty and eighty-five.

Jordan. -- Excessive exposure to heat and cold exert a great influence in producing the disease.

Aiken. -- If to malaria, etc., yes; if to sun, etc., no.

Carbee. -- Yes; by exposure to pernicious winds.

Eaton. -- An exposed dwelling may promote it, especially if exposed to damp winds, when a dry exposed place might for a time, retard it. Thus is seen the difference between the climate of Minnesota and Iowa. There the weather seems as cold, and it is as windy as here, yet the atmosphere is dry there, instead of being moist as in New England. There, a new case of Phthisis Pulmonalis is rarely developed, yet many die who go from here with the disease far advanced. There, many times in cold weather, the air feels icy and frozen, as if coming from very cold water. Such air, of course, must be bad for the consumptive -- such has certainly been my experience in practice.