Sex also gives a predisposition to Consumption. Females are more frequently affected by it than males. This may be attributed to their greater delicacy of constitution, and nervous temperament. Their comparatively sedentary habits of life add to this peculiar constitution. But improper compliance with the requisitions of fashion and taste constitutes not a small part of the greater susceptibility of females to Phthisis. Independent of the use of corsets, the small quantity of clothing frequently worn by them, under circumstances when it is most necessary, is a fruitful source of mischief to their health. In the coldest of our winter nights, will these fair devotees of fashion issue from rooms, heated to a degree never experienced in our hottest weather, into the chilling air of midnight, with less clothing than they use at noon, when the sun exerts his greatest power. The next day brings with it “a violent cold,” and this cold is too frequently the foundation of the Consumption which destroys them. Occupation in life is another source of the ravages of this disease. Particular occupations subject those engaged in them to the respiration of air impregnated with foreign materials, irritating the lungs, either by their chemical or mechanical action. Substances acting mechanically upon the lungs, are inhaled by stone-cutters, millers, hair-dressers, bolters, coal-heavers, scythe-grinders, persons engaged in pointing needles, chimney-sweepers, dressers of flax and feathers, spinners in wool, and others employed in similar occupations. Chemical agents are taken into the lungs by manufacturers of acids, and all other volatile corroding substances. These materials constantly acting upon the lungs, produce irritation and slight inflammation, terminating in Phthisis. The operation of any of these causes is favoured when the occupation requires a stooping or other awkward posture of the body to be maintained. This cause may act independently of the former also, and hence, students, and clerks writing at their desks, taylors, shoemakers, &c. are liable to this disease. To the same causes are frequently added, a sedentary life, and confinement in hot rooms; hence “a surgeon of London whose opportunities of observation are very extensive, relates of the gilders of that city, who work in heated rooms, that six out of seven are said to die consumptive in their apprenticeship.” Sedentary habits of life, accompanied with hard study, and too intense application of mind, predispose literary men to Consumption. Loud public speaking, blowing on wind instruments, glass blowing and other circumstances requiring a laborious and continued action of the lungs, produce the same effect. Any one of these causes may frequently exist without injury, but their combined action seldom fails to produce pulmonary disease.