Some persons assert, that the discovery of the precise situation of an ulceration of the lung is merely a matter of curiosity, as when arising from tubercles, they consider it incurable; but surely this is not a good medical objection. Our art may improve so as to enable us to remedy these evils; and assuredly our chance of success will be increased by a knowledge of the seat of tubercles, their commencement, and their progress. While those persons therefore who have made use of the stethoscope with success, praise it in terms which may seem romantic and beyond the truth; others, and perhaps those chiefly who have never even seen the instrument, speak of it with ridicule, or censure it as a piece of quackery. It is not just that any one wholly unacquainted with the stethoscope, should assume the right of pronouncing an opinion on its properties. It certainly does not deserve the imputation of quackery; for this opprobrium belongs to the concealment of a remedy; or to some mysterious plan of practice, studiously kept secret for the mere purpose of gain. Candour is most honourable to the educated mind; and to be sensible of our ignorance on any particular subject, is the first step to the acquirement of knowledge. It has been said that the use of the stethoscope may be injurious, by leading the physician to know too much of the danger in a bad case; to make him despond and resign the patient to his fate too soon. Such an observation scarcely requires refutation. In no instance of dangerous disease can the physician see his way too clearly; and at all times to know the disease, is at least making a considerable approach towards the cure. The judgment, the discretion, and the humanity of the good physician, will be a sure protection to the patient against any abrupt decision, any gloomy opinion, and much more against unkind desertion, in the most hopeless circumstances of disease. The following case serves to shew the converse proposition, and the happy purpose to which superior knowledge and discernment were applied. M. Laennec was consulted in the case of a gentleman who was supposed to be dying from phthisis pulmonalis, and in a state so desperate, that he was not expected by his medical attendant to survive more than two or three days. M. Laennec made his usual investigation, and persuaded himself that the case had been mistaken, and that the alarming symptoms did not arise from ulceration of the lungs, but from empyema, or purulent collection within the pleuræ. He strongly recommended that the operation for this disease should be performed; and, after a little hesitation and delay, his advice was adopted. A large quantity of pus was evacuated, and immediate relief was afforded. The amendment was rapid, and the progress of cure so favourable, that the gentleman recovered his health in less than three months.