The achievement of Dr. Addison, however, which has attracted most general notice, is his discovery of a disease of the supra-renal capsules, the small organs adjacent to the kidneys, whose function has not yet been satisfactorily ascertained. We are told that in one case, which had baffled all investigation, Addison was called in, and after careful enquiry, stated positively that the patient suffered from a disease of these organs, which would before long prove fatal. This opinion was received with polite incredulity, but it was justified by the result, and the supra-renal capsules were the only organs that were found diseased. This extraordinary diagnosis was soon noised abroad, and on the Continent brought Addison more honour than in England. Trousseau in France was cordially supported in naming it “la Maladie d’Addison” (Addison’s disease), a name which it will long retain. But the disease was not discovered in this apparently sudden and striking manner, but was the result of observations carried on for many years, in which his powers of deduction from a few cases and imperfect data were most strikingly evidenced. The disease occurs rarely, and very few hints or materials for comparison were available. A form of wasting disease without any apparent organic injury had been again and again observed—bloodlessness, extreme prostration, and various shades of alteration in the colour of the skin, being prominent symptoms. A certain bronzing of the integument was, and still is, an inexplicable concomitant, and no light was thrown upon it till Addison, carefully examining the organs of a deceased patient, when no other disease could be detected, discovered signs of malady in the supra-renal capsules. He identified the disease, and though he did not absolutely mark it out from all others, he gave a very perfect account of the symptoms in the cases which he had met with, and showed that no other disease could be connected with them—indeed no other disease of these capsules has been discovered.