The works of Edgar Allan Poe; newly collected and edited, with a memoir, critical introductions, and notes, by Edmund Clarence Stedman and George Edward Woodberry; the illustrations by Albert Edward Sterner.

THE FACTS IN THE CASE OF M. VALDEMAR

the emaciation was so extreme that the skin had
been broken through by the cheek-bones. His expectoration was excessive. The pulse was barely
perceptible. He retained, nevertheless, in a very remarkable manner, both his mental power and a certain degree of physical strength. He spoke with
distinctness- took some palliative medicines without
aid - and, when I entered the room, was occupied in
pencilling memoranda in a pocket-book. He was
propped up in the bed by pillows. Doctors Dand F- were in attendance.
After pressing Valdemar's hand, I took these gentlemen aside, and obtained from them a minute account of the patient's condition. The left lung had
been for eighteen months in a semi-osseous or cartilaginous state, and was, of course, entirely useless
for all purposes of vitality. The right, in its upper
portion, was also partially, if not thoroughly, ossified,
while the lower region was merely a mass of purulent
tubercles, running one into another. Several extensive perforations existed; and, at one point, permanent adhesion to the ribs had taken place. These
appearances in the right lobe were of comparatively
recent date. The ossification had proceeded with
very unusual rapidity; no sign of it had been discovered a month before, and the adhesion had ony
been observed during the three previous days. Independently of the phthisis, the patient was suspected
of aneurism of the aorta; but on this point the
osseous symptoms rendered an exact diagnosis impossible. It was the opinion of both physicians that
M. Valdemar would die about midnight on the morrow (Sunday). It was then seven o'clock on Sat.
urday evening.
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