That these secondary dropsies are not the effect of debility appears pretty evident from considering, that they often exist while the strength of the patient is yet undiminished, while all the other secretions, except that of the urine, are carried on with vigour, and while the appetite and digestive functions are not only unimpaired, but improved. The examinations of the _ninth_ and _tenth cases_ are particularly valuable, because they confirm what had been observed in other subjects; they exhibit two well marked instances of aneurism of the heart, and present us a view of organic disease unattended by dropsy of the pleura. This must be sufficient to remove the suspicion, that the symptoms we have attributed to the former disease might arise from the existence of the latter. No one probably will be willing to impute a chronic disease, terminated by a sudden death, to five or six ounces of water in the pericardium; for such a quantity, though it might produce inconvenience, could not prove fatal, unless it were suddenly effused; and, if this were true, it of course could not have been the cause of the long train of symptoms observed in _case tenth_. Dr. William Hamilton, the author of a valuable treatise on the digitalis purpurea, thinks the hydrothorax a more frequent disease than has commonly been imagined, because he conceives that it has often been mistaken for organic disease of the heart. He names, with some precision, many symptoms of the latter complaint; but how remote he is from an accurate knowledge of it may be discovered by his opinion, that, in diseases of the heart, “the patient can lie down with ease, and seldom experiences much difficulty of breathing.” The limits of this paper do not admit a discussion of this and other points, respecting which he seems to be mistaken. We must therefore submit them to be decided by the evidence adduced in Dr. Hamilton’s “observations,” and by that which may be drawn from these cases, and future investigations of the subject. It will perhaps hereafter appear surprising, that derangements in the structure of so important an organ as the heart should have been lightly estimated by very respectable authors. * * * * *