3^i>^ 
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 ON' THti 
 
 SALUBRITY 
 
 ISLE OF PIN-E-S. 
 
 DR. DON JOSE DE LA LUZ HERNANDEZ, 
 
 Physician and Surgeon of the Boyal House of Beneficencia and Foundling 
 
 Hospital, Member of the Inspection of Studies of the 
 
 Islands of Cuba, Porto Rico, etc. 
 
 H A B A 
 
 1857.
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 SALUBRITY OF THE ISLE OF PINES. 
 
 BY 
 
 DR. DON JOSE' DE LA LUZ HERNANDEZ, 
 
 PHYSICIAN AND SURGEON OF THE ROYAL HODSB OF BENEFICENCIA AND 
 
 FOUNDLING HOSPITAL, MEMBER OF THE INSPECTION OF STUDIES 
 
 OF THE ISLANDS OF CUBA AND POETO RICO, ETC. 
 
 HABANA 
 
 1857.
 
 Igtack 
 A 
 
 oo 
 
 SA1UBKITY OF THE ISLE OF PINES, 
 
 ON presenting to the public my ideas respecting the hygienic 
 and curative properties of the Isle of Pines and its waters, I 
 should decire to give likewise a correct analysis of the latter, as 
 well as a scientific description of their localities. But so labo- 
 rious and difficult a task would not allow me to arrive as 
 speedily as I wish, to the subject it is now my purpose to pre- 
 sent under the point of view which may offer most interest to 
 the public in general and to professional men. 1 shall therefore 
 restrict myself to giving a summary topographical description 
 of the Island, in the study of which I have been long engaged. 
 I shall close these pages with some memoranda that may con- 
 tribute towards the commencement of the history of this 
 new district, which merits so much celebrity from its locality, 
 an estimation of its population, and the industrial productions 
 it may hereafter develop. 
 
 The extent of this Island, according to geographers, is about 
 180 square leagues; its length, for E. to W., is 21% leagues; its 
 circumference is 70 leagues, the result of the preceding longitu- 
 dinal measurement, and its breadth, from N. to S., of 13^j 
 leagues: its centre is situated in 21 36' 13" N. lat., and 76 
 12' 13" Ion. VV. from Cadiz. It is a little more than 30 leagues 
 from Havana, and from the landing of Bataban6 to the village 
 of Nueva Gerona the distance is eighteen leagues, in a straight 
 line, but far more for vessels, on account of the multitude of keys 
 or islets that surround the Island, on whose shores Columbus 
 arrived the 24th of June, in the year 1494, bestowing on it the 
 name of La Evangelista, perhaps in commemoration of the day 
 of its discovery. 
 
 But the illustrious navigator was doubtless very far from 
 anticipating that the beautiful islet he had just vieited, in order 
 to make provision of wood and water, contained so many and 
 BO valuable springs of the latter as would one day obtain, con- 
 
 - , >-'
 
 4 
 
 jointly with its climate, the celebrity it now enjoys; justifying 
 the title of this pamphlet, and meriting all that is said in its 
 favor. However, as neither all is said that might be expressed 
 on so interesting a matter, nor the little that has been written 
 is as well known as it should be to the public in general, and to 
 physicians in particular, I have believed it would be useful to 
 publish the studies or observations on this subject that I have 
 effected, having been disposed thereto by the extraordinary oc- 
 currence I shall now proceed to relate. 
 
 Connected intimately by bonds of friendship with a distin- 
 guished schoolfellow, I had opportunity to witness a case, the 
 history of which is as follows: 
 
 About the middle of the month of June, 1826, the person to 
 whom I refer was attacked with active hemoptysis. He was 
 then a young man of 24 years of age, of nervous and sanguine- 
 ous temperament, fibrinous diathesis or habit of body, middle- 
 sized stature, lean but muscular constitution, narrow chest, fair 
 skin, gray eyes, auburn hair; of a gay and communicative dis- 
 position, clear understanding, with a good memory and a lively 
 imagination; he was a profound observer, and very studious. 
 Endowed with these brilliant qualities, and other virtues diffi- 
 cult to imitate, he has distinguished himself among his com- 
 panions in study, and was enmployed, before he was officially 
 admitted as a member of the Medical Faculty, to take charge 
 of several infirmaries in the rich district of San Manos, which, 
 for the adornment and beauty of its plantations might have 
 been called at that time the Paradise of Cuba. Only a few 
 months after his arrival there, he had acquired a well-deserved 
 reputation in all the district, and even the surrounding country; 
 he had gained an unlimited circle of friendship and confidence, 
 in order to correspond worthily to which he was under the neces- 
 sity of sacrificing a portion of his hours which should have been 
 devoted to repose, without regard to his constitution, debilitated 
 by study and worn by the severe and assiduous tasks he had im- 
 posed on himself; exposed to the weather, without sufl'n lent HUM! 
 or sleep, and continually tormented by the desire of fulfilling to 
 the utmost his duty towards those who confided to his care their 
 lives or their interests. This constant agitation, this active and 
 toilsome exercise, embraced on a sudden, and performed with so 
 much energy and zeal, were the accidental causes which produced 
 the hemoptysis, that presented the following symptoms:
 
 An oppressive pain in the precodial regions, distressed ex- 
 pression of countenance, flushed cheeks, intense cephalalgy, high 
 fever, burning heat in the entire surface of the skin, and more 
 pronounced in the palms of the hands and the soles of the 
 feet; a parching thirst, anorexy, restlessness, a frequent cough, 
 and repeated and profuse hemorrhage of flbrinous, bright-colored 
 blood. Alarmed by such serious symptoms, he consulted a surgeon 
 of considerable practice; but as he perceived, and his patient 
 experienced, that the disease did not yield to the treatment they 
 had adopted, they both determined the patient should be removed 
 to Havana, where, with more resources, he might be speedily 
 and efficaciously attended to. Relying on my friendship, he did 
 me the honor to reside in my house, where, at my solicitation, 
 he was examined, and a medical consultation, of which he was 
 the object, was held by Doctors Dn Thomas Romay, Dn Andr6a 
 Terriles, Dn Simon Vicente de Hevia, Dn Pablo Alarin, el sor 
 de Senibriera, and Licenciate Montes de Dea, who took upon 
 themselves to direct his treatment, intrusting to my care the 
 exact fulfillment of all that was prescribed; for although they 
 all judged the disease was incurable, they nevertheless did not 
 give up the patient, but rather redoubled their care, visiting 
 him daily, modifying the curative plan and varying remedies 
 affording him the most solicitious attention, with truly paternal 
 kindness, and showing the most ardent desire to save the life 
 of this estimable young man. However, in spite of the means 
 employed, the patient grew worse daily, and the physicians, 
 without hope, gave me a fatal prognostic, that appeared to them 
 inevitable, as they had employed every means their fertile imag- 
 ination and long experience had suggested. This judgment, to 
 me so fearful, but so respectable, penetrated my reluctant friend- 
 ship with the most profound grief, but at the same time gener- 
 ated good wishes, which soon became hopes, as my memory dwelt 
 on the consoling remembrance of a number of facts the patient's 
 father had related to me, respecting the salubrity of the Isle of 
 Pines, where he had himself been saved from a very severe ill- 
 ness, and where he owned a small tenement he had built, with 
 the assistance of some relations of his who resided there. 
 
 This remembrance seemed to me a divine inspiration, sug- 
 gested by some celestial deity, to save the life of a friend, against 
 whose disease science had already pronounced her decree, declar- 
 ing the impotency of art. And as my inexperience did not allow
 
 me to perceive the full extent of the malady, while, on the other 
 hand, I was blinded by my affection for the sufferer, I formed 
 wishes which grew into hopes, to which I gave a foundation 
 created by my imagination, whose promptings I followed by de- 
 ciding his removal to the Isle of Pines, for which place he de- 
 parted on the following day. 
 
 It will be well to mention the patient's state when he left 
 Havana, only four months after the commencement of his ill- 
 ness, in which time the latter had made such progress, in spite 
 of the remedial agents judiciously prescribed and faithfully 
 employed, that on his departure it presented the following group 
 of symptoms: constant fever, with copius morning sweats; a 
 suffocating cough, with pulverulent, thick, and fetid expectora- 
 tion; mnrasmatic emaciation, .total want of appeite, insatiable 
 thirst, debilitated voice, inability to lie down or to walk, op- 
 pressive and constant pain in the entire left side of the breast, 
 a heavy sound in all this region, want of sleep, flushed cheeks, 
 and swollen feet. 
 
 This group of symptoms, faintly described, was presented by 
 the patient on his departure for the Isle of Pines, where he 
 arrived three days afterwards, having followed the route I traced 
 for him; and by attention to the hygienic directions I prepared 
 for him, he returned four months afterwards, not only cured, 
 but stronger than ever before. 
 
 When the mind is impressed by an extraordinary occurrence, 
 our reason leads us to the investigation of its causes, which is 
 only the complete expression of the philosophy of the science to 
 whose department the phenomenon that has been observed be- 
 longs; in the present case, corresponding to the medical depart- 
 ment, it was natural that an ardent desire to investigate it* 
 causes should be excited in my mind, or in other words, to study 
 the concurrence of circumstances which produced a result so 
 extraordinary and satisfactory for me. These circumstances, 
 then, were the medical climate, or the locality, the true causes 
 of the effect; and only two means present themselves to study 
 it scientifically or empirically. The former was out of my 
 power, as well for the variety and depth of knowledge required, 
 as for the multitude of instruments, reiigents and studies nece~s- 
 sary, and time and unavoidable expenditure which I could not 
 defray. 
 
 The latter means, although more attainable, offered me,
 
 nevertheless, great difficulties, the principal one being that my 
 practice did not embrace a sufficien^ number of patients for me 
 to make observations on cases similar, or apparently so. Be- 
 sides, although I had met with such cases, I could never have 
 ventured to advise them to go in search of health to a place 
 which, according to the accounts of the individual whose life 
 had been saved there, was still uninhabitable; where there were 
 no hotels or public houses, nor provision for the most indispen- 
 sable necessaries of life, and where the inhabitants or residents 
 were frequently assaulted and robbed by pirates, who took refuge 
 in the ilsand, which, being surrounded by quays, offered a com- 
 modious shelter to wreckers and malefactors. On the other 
 hand, it was necessary to suffer the inconvenience of a road of 
 near forty miles in length, and nearly impassable, the termin- 
 ation of which was a marshy and desert coast, where the trav- 
 eler found no shelter nor certainty of obtaining a vessel to con- 
 vey him to the island. Such serious and powerful causes delayed 
 the execution of my desire, without destroying the hope of sat- 
 isfying it at some future day in the best manner possible; and 
 finally, although at a late period, I have found opportunities of 
 doing so. I may thus exclaim with the Mantuan poet: Quamvis 
 sera temen longo tempore venit. Better late than never. 
 
 For the above reasons, a long time elapsed before I could 
 utilize in favor of persons actually in want of them, the power- 
 ful resources offered by the climate and water of the Isle of 
 Pines. But about the commencement of the year 1844, a case 
 strikingly analogous to the one related, was presented to me: 
 there was then a railroad extending to Bataban6, and the gov- 
 ernment had projected founding the colony of Reina Amalia, 
 for which purpose a garrison was placed there, with a military 
 commandant and a board of civil authorities; a school was 
 established, a church and a hospital were built, the latter with 
 an attending physician endowed by government, and a vessel 
 destined to make regular trips from Bataban6 to Nueva Gerona, 
 in which latter place a few shops for the sale of miscellaneous 
 articles, a bakery and a slaughter-house, afforded some resources 
 which led me to advise this patient to go to the latter place, 
 without, however, assuring a favorable result, although I endeav- 
 ored to inspire him with hopes of a complete recovery pro 
 vided he ventured to expose himself to the difficulties he might 
 meet in providing a convenient lodging in what was atill an
 
 8 
 
 embryo village. The patient resolved to follow my encourag- 
 ing advice, after having been despaired of by doctors of the 
 highest reputation he had consulted, and two days afterwards 
 he departed for Nueva Gerona, where by chance I had occasion 
 to see him two months subsequently. I found him free from 
 fever, with a hearty appetite and good digestion; he had but 
 little cough, was in good spirits, and improving in condition, 
 while he weighed nearly fifty pounds more than when he arrived 
 on the island. 
 
 Then I commenced to study that locality, and to investigate 
 the resources that might be afforded to any other invalid whose 
 sufferings might place him under the necessity of residing there. 
 The houses which then existed were but badly built, and the 
 shops entirely unprovided with articles of comfort. But the 
 circumstances of there being a conveyance by lailroad to Bata- 
 banu, and thence by vessel on fixed days and hours to Nueva 
 Gerona, where, although with poor accommodations to offer 
 travellers, there were, nevertheless, some houses of public enter- 
 tainment, facilitated to invalids the principal means of obtain- 
 ing for themselves the advantages of a climate unequalled in 
 the island of Cuba. On the other hand, the unfavorable preju- 
 dices that existed, difficulties feared, and the small degree of 
 confidence inspired by a place as yet almost unknown, causel 
 the only persons who enjoyed its advantages to be occasionally, 
 some individual resident in Bataband, who by connections of 
 friendship or family, was influenced to remove there to recruit 
 his health. 
 
 Nevertheless, as the testimony of facts is irresistible, and I 
 had by this time acquired some faith in the virtues of the 
 island, shortly afterwards I persuaded a lady who had been 
 despaired of by two physicians of celebrity, and also a young 
 lady of this place who suffered from the laryngity that had not 
 yielded to the treatment of an able physician who attended her. 
 This gentleman at the same time prevailed on me to see his 
 patient and give him my opinion, the result being that I con- 
 sidered the climate of the island would be favorable for both 
 the above patients, in consequence of which I advised them to 
 remove there immediately and follow the prophylactic or hy- 
 gienic regimen I judged most proper; the result corresponded 
 to my wishes, and from the first day an advantageous change 
 was observed in both ladies. A short time afterwards I was
 
 9 
 
 called upon to visit another young lady who was given up as 
 incurable, by one of the most celebrated physicians I know. Her 
 situation was most lamentable. A constant fever and suppressed 
 menstruation for four months, unceasing cough, complete anor- 
 exy, want of sleep, abundant expectoration, extreme emaciation, 
 such loss of muscular strength that to remove in her room from 
 one chair to another she required help, and besides, harassed by 
 an intense desire to recover and to live, which seemed to increase 
 in proportion with her suffering. In this pitiful situation, I 
 endeavored to raise her hopes by persuading ber that in the 
 Isle of Pines she might speedily recover. Although somewhat 
 regardless of my hygienic instructions, she succeeded in recov- 
 ering to a degree that was really surprising to me, and which 
 contributed much to confirm the favorable idea I had already 
 entertained of that atmosphere, and since then I have recom- 
 mended with more confidence, for certain diseases, the advan- 
 tages of that climate, rather than the virtues of certain drugs, 
 which though much recommended by theory, may not support 
 this reputation by their effects. 
 
 Now, as tuberculous phthisis is one of the diseases which most 
 afflict the human race, it should have been, and has really been, 
 one of the most prominent objects of medical study. In the 
 present day,, at least, thanks to the advancement of the auxil- 
 iary sciences, it may be said that medicine assumes to be rather 
 an experimental than a conjectural science. Shall we, therefore, 
 on account of certain facts in chemistry having been ascertained, 
 undertake an investigation of the local causes that favor the 
 Isle of Pines, with the circumstances which render it appropri- 
 ate for the successful treatment, not only of tuberculous phthisis, 
 but also of many other diseases, which, with distinctive names 
 and different symptoms, appear nevertheless to confound them- 
 selves in essence with the former, and perhaps to derive their 
 origin from the same elements? 
 
 Now if we allow to chemistry the honor of effecting demon- 
 strations, this science has proved that idodine is found not only 
 in certain waters, minerals, and even vegetables, but likewise 
 in the atmospheric air, and particularly the maritime atmos- 
 phere. And although, the air of the Isle of Pines has not yet 
 been subjected to analysis, the circumstance of its being a loca- 
 tion surrounded on all sides by the sea causes its atmosphere, 
 whatever may be the direction of the prevailing wind, to be
 
 10 
 
 essentially maritime, in which a skilful chemist has exhibited 
 the presence of potash, and of iron in its waters. 
 
 There is, besides, a very important observation which I think 
 it will be well to avail of, in order to better elucidate the fact 
 in question. It has been observed that tuberculous phthisis, as 
 well as certain other diseases which partake of its character, 
 appear most generally in calcareous districts. Now, the soil of 
 the Isle of Pines is not calcareous on its surface. 
 
 I have the satisfaction of presenting facts faithfully narrated, 
 respecting many patients and many diseases, considered incur- 
 able in the present day, that I have seen mitigated, corrected, 
 and even radically cured, with nothing more than the beneficial 
 influence of the climate and waters of the Isle of Pines. 
 
 I shall first present the list of the diseases that may be suc- 
 cessfully treated by the climate and waters of the Island, in 
 proof of the truth of which I present the testimony of the facts 
 hereafter related. 
 
 In the Isle of Pines tuberculous phthisis has been observed to 
 disappear, as if by enchantment. Laryingitis, bronchitis, ceph- 
 alalgy and iptenitis; arthritis, rheums, and cephalalgy; gas- 
 tralgy and gastroenteralgy, amenorrheas and dismenorrheas ; 
 uterine affections, as also venereal lues and king's evil ; gland- 
 ular obstructions, and osteocopes; neurotic affections, paralysis, 
 hypochondriasis or melancholy; and finally, cachexy, chlorosis, 
 prostration, and almost all the dermal affections, from herpes to 
 the incipient elephantiasis of the Arabs; asthma, ophthalmia, 
 otitis, cystitis, eclampsies, and epilepsy. I should like to be 
 authorized to name the persons who have been the objects of 
 the study of the diseases I have just mentioned, but will limit 
 myself to the initials of their names, which I shall have no 
 objection to state at length to individuals interested in itnoti- 
 gating; as I consider myself authorized to do so, for the sake 
 of humanity, of science, and of the spot that restored health and 
 life where it might reasonably have been regarded as lost. 
 
 1st. A. B., about 30 years of age, nervous temperament, serous 
 diathesis, short stature, slender limbs, fair hair, thin beard, fair 
 skin and rosy cheeks; commenced to suffer a hemoptysis at the 
 end of the year 1852. After repeated catarrhs, that were treated 
 by a curative plan prescribed by a practical physician, lie tried. 
 but without benefit, a multitude of remedies, recommended by 
 the art and extolled by their authors; all, however, was in vain.
 
 11 
 
 Medical consultations were held, remedial agents were varied, 
 curative systems were changed, in spite of which the disease con- 
 tinued to threaten a fatal termination. A constant pain in the 
 chest, a fatiguing, purulent expectoration, an unceasing fever, 
 with night-sweats, extreme emaciation, laborious respiration, 
 total anorexy, loss of strength, and with well-grounded fears of 
 a fatal result. Thanks to the suggestion of some friends, he 
 gave up the curative plan he was following; and, animated by 
 the advice and hopes offered him by an intimate friend of mine, 
 he determined to go to the Isle of Pines, in the spring of the 
 ensuing year, 1853, where he presented himself to me, disposed 
 to hear my opinion and to follow my advice. A tuberculous phthi- 
 sis, in its second stage, far advanced, was the diagnostic I 
 formed; and, in consequence, I prescribed for him a mild pro- 
 phylactic regimen, exercise in proportion to his debilitated con- 
 dition, and baths in Santa F6 the water of which springs was 
 his only drink, from the day of his arrival. At the end of fif- 
 teen or twenty days, the fever disappeared, the cough and expec- 
 toration diminished, and the latter assumed a different char- 
 acter. He regained his appetite; and his strength, although 
 slowly, improved as soon as he began to use the baths, in spite 
 of his fears, which I endeavored to conquer. At the time of 
 writing this, the individual is strong and healthy, although he 
 did not remain in the Island all the time I recommended, and 
 was married six or eight months after having entered into con- 
 valescence, it may be said, from his severe and depauperating 
 disease. He has now returned to Santa F6, with well-grounded 
 hopes that his suffering wife will be as fortunate as he was 
 himself. 
 
 2d. I. A., a young man of 18 to 20 years of age, or nervous 
 temperament, short stature, narrow chest, hepatic idiosyncrasy, 
 venous diathesis, addicted to study, and residing in a cold and 
 damp district. He contracted, at the commencement of the 
 autumn of 1852, a pulmonary phthisis, which in spite of the 
 utmost care and best attendance, he did not succeed in curing; 
 but rather a tuberculous phthisis presented itself, which had 
 made rapid progress by the time he returned to Havana at the 
 beginning of winter. Having been visited and prescribed for by 
 a physician accustomed to treat this disease, his father saw, 
 with poignant grief, that the remedial agents applied gave no 
 good results, while the affection became more severe and more
 
 12 
 
 alarming, in spite of the efforts made to arrest its course. At 
 this melancholy juncture I was consulted, and on examining the 
 patient I discovered a slow and constant fever, night-sweats, a 
 most harassing cough, copious, thick, and sometime* ^anguinolent 
 expectoration, heavy sound in some parts of the breast, accom- 
 panied with an aching pain, entire loathing of food, great de- 
 bility, emaciation of the muscular system, and the feet some- 
 what swelled. A consultation being held by his attending phy- 
 sician, another very distinguished practitioner, and myself; if, 
 indeed, we agreed in characterizing the disease as a tuberculous 
 phthisis, far advanced in its second period, it is also true that. 
 we disagreed respecting the curative plan. My two fellow prac- 
 titioners were of opinion to limit the treatment to preparations 
 of iodine in various forms, and some other drugs, seconded in 
 their operations by an appropriate prophylactic plan. As I mis- 
 trusted this treatment, which I have ever observed to fail. I 
 proposed that the patient should at once remove to the Isle of 
 Pines, without losing time in applying useless remedies. In 
 spite of my arguments, the opinion of my co-professors was pre- 
 ferred, and the patient, though skillfully treated by them, grew 
 worse, when after the lapse of six weeks, by their advice he 
 removed to Pinar del Rio. A few days after, he returned to 
 Havana in a still more reduced state, with his feet much swelled 
 and very painful; and under all those unfavorable circumstances 
 he departed for the Isle of Pines, where, by my recommendation, 
 he fixed his residence in Santa F6; he remained there only two 
 or three months, which period, however, was sufficient to correct 
 the principal symptoms of his disease, and to communicate to 
 nature the impulse necessary for her recovery, in spite of the 
 patient's remissness in following the method prescribed. This 
 young man, whose life was despaired of by the physicians who 
 visited him, and not without reason, is now enjoying good health. 
 3d. I. L., a man about 35 years of age, of a nervous tempera- 
 ment, gastric idiosyncrasy, narrow chest, middling stature, whoe 
 occupation was mercantile business. In the summer of last 
 year, after having sufTered varicocele, he was afflicted with a 
 series of /attacks of erratic fevers, which being neglected by the 
 patient, became more and more t're<|m'nt. till at length they as- 
 sumed a daily and intermitting character, preceded by chill* and 
 accompanied by a dry and harassing cough. Without medical 
 advice, the patient removed to the village of El C'alalmzar, (sit-
 
 13 
 
 uated about four leagues to the south of Havana,) where, after 
 remaining a fortnight he returned home with slow and constant 
 fever, unceasing cough, accompanied with profuse mucous ex- 
 pectoration and a pricking pain towards the left side where the 
 sound was quite heavy, extreme loathing of food, death-like pale- 
 ness and total loss of strength. His respiration was short, and 
 the smallest degree of exercise was oppressive almost to suffo- 
 cation. The season being far advanced, it was not possible, OP 
 prudent at least, to embark on a voyage over seas to Spain, and 
 as I detected a strongly marked and fast progressing tuberculous 
 phthisis, I advised this patient to proceed without loss of time, 
 to the Isle of Pines, to use the waters of Santa F6. Docile to 
 my advice, he did so, and the result corresponded to my hopea 
 as well as to the aspirations of himself, his family, and his 
 friends. 
 
 4th. E. Y., a young man about twenty-five years of age, of 
 nervous lymphatic temperament, gastro-hepatic idiosyncrasy, 
 employed in a commercial house. In consequence of having com- 
 mitted an indiscretion, he received several small wounds in the 
 face and even in the eyes, losing his sight by an explosion of 
 powder. Being subjected to such medical treatment as his con- 
 dition required, for four months confined to his room, he was 
 attacked by a slow hectic fever which, in consideration of the 
 accompanying group of symptoms, was characterized as a far 
 advanced tuberculous phthisis, while the patient's debility was 
 so extreme that he could scarcely walk a step. At this juncture, 
 mistrusting the probable result of the curative plan prepared for 
 him, he applied to me, when having examined him, I persuaded 
 him to be conveyed without loss of time to Santa F6, which was 
 done on the following day, although he was doubtful of the re- 
 sult, which, nevertheless, was so successful, that three months 
 after, I had myself the pleasure to give him permission to return 
 to the bosom of his family, perfectly cured. 
 
 5th. N. A., of nervous and lymphatic temperament, serous 
 diathesis, short stature; he was a dealer in tobacco, and in the 
 pursuit of his business was much exposed to the action of the 
 sun, without always having means of shelter from the storms 
 and showers of rain so frequent in our country districts, or from 
 the night air and the inclemency of wintry days. He received 
 several severe hurts from falls from horseback, which he neg- 
 lected, as well as certain symptoms of humoral affections. The
 
 14 
 
 association of these causes, aided perhaps by other circumstances 
 unappreciated and unforeseen, produced an active hemoptysis, 
 which being neglected at first and injudiciously treated after- 
 wards, soon acquired a serious character. The fever appeared, 
 with a constant pain at the base of the thorax, towards the right 
 side, over the region of the liver. The cough became troublesome, 
 and was almost always accompanied with sanguinolent expecto- 
 ration. There was a burning heat in the palms of the hands and 
 soles of the feet, cephalalgy, highly flushed face, intense thirst, 
 complete loss of appetite, restlessness, heavy sound in some parts 
 of the chest, and laborious respiration; such was the group of 
 symptoms presented by this patient when I saw him at the com- 
 mencement of last year, (1854). 1 proposed for him a prophy- 
 lactic regimen that appeared proper in my judgment, and in- 
 formed him that in preference to all medical treatment he should 
 adopt a residence of four to six months in Santa F6; but in this 
 respect, disregarding my advice, and perceiving the symptoms 
 abate in virtue of the regimen prescribed, and a revulsive agent 
 that was applied, which reproduced the hemoptysis, and re-ainmated 
 all the symptoms, some of which had been alleviated, and others 
 removed, I insisted on my prescription, but as his friends were 
 not entirely satisfied, they thought proper to hear other opinions, 
 and accordingly a consultation was held, at which a number of 
 practitioners assisted, who likewise dissented from iny opinion, 
 and proposed various methods, of which the patient adopted the 
 one he thought best. Its author flattered himself on the result 
 he anticipated for his curative plan, based upon specific remedies, 
 and as 1 refused to admit the association that was requested of 
 me, which would have required me to subject my opinion to 
 views I had disapproved and combated, I left the case to the care 
 of my co-practitioners, who, unsuccessful in their first indica- 
 tions, varied their plan, changed their remedial agents; but all 
 was in vain, the disease progressed, and the patient lost strength 
 BO visibly and so surprisingly, that his friends at length deter- 
 mined to send him to the Isle of Pines. Neither they, however, 
 nor the physician were acquainted with that place, and thinking 
 it wad indifferent in what part of it he fixed his residence, they 
 sent him to Nueva Gerona, where, a few days after his arrival, 
 he was again attacked with new and repeated hemorrhage. This 
 highly alarming state obliged the patient and his family to so- 
 licit my opinion for the second time, as they now believed the
 
 15 
 
 case to be irretrievably lost. I prescribed to him the method 
 he was to follow in Santa F6, where the symptoms which most 
 harassed him disappeared as if by enchantment. Four months 
 after he returned, free from fever, with a good appetite, in good 
 flesh, cheerful, and disposed to embark for Spain, of which coun- 
 try he is a native, and where he now enjoys good health. 
 
 6th. In the spring of the same year, Mrs. A. R. de R. arrived 
 in Nueva Gerona afflicted with laryngeal phthisis, which had 
 been vainly treated by homeopathic and allopathic physicians. 
 This patient had hoped to find relief in Marianao, where her 
 strength decreased visibly and her sufferings increased in the 
 same proportion. Probably without consulting a physician, and 
 attracted by the justly acquired fame of the climate of Isla de 
 Pinos, she removed there, fixing her residence at Nueva Gerona, 
 where in the course of a fortnight she found no relief; she was 
 now inclined to return to Havana with but slender hopes of re- 
 covering; but before forming her decision, she consulted me, and 
 I found her with the following symptoms: a harassing cough, 
 attended with thick and fetid expectoration; all the posterior 
 chamber of the mouth covered with small ulcers with inflamed 
 edges, as far as could be seen; her voice much broken, which ren- 
 dered it impossible for her to exercise her profession. The fever 
 was constant, except a remission early in the morning with copi- 
 ous sweats. She was emaciated with anorexy, loss of muscular 
 strength, and depression of spirits, which conjunction of symp- 
 toms announced a far advanced phthisis. In this sad condition, 
 and after having employed fruitlessly the most highly-recom- 
 mended remedial agents, I recommended her to proceed without 
 loss of time to take the baths and drink the waters of Santa F& 
 I prohibited all medicines, and prepared for her a prophylactic 
 plan that I judged proper, which she followed. After eight days, 
 her improvement was so remarkable, that, full of confidence, she 
 continued the treatment, though for only three months; which 
 time was sufficient to cause the fever to disappear; her strength 
 was recruited, and her voice recovered the delicate modulation 
 which had been lost. This lady now lives and exercises her pro- 
 fession. 
 
 7th. Miss M. M., about twenty years of age, lymphatic and 
 nervous temperament, born and bred in a low and damp district; 
 although she had enjoyed moderate health, began to suffer from 
 laryngitis, which was submitted to the care of a celebrated prac-
 
 titioner, justly recommended by his well-deserved reputation, 
 who exerted himself to combat this disease by every means that 
 hia fertile talent suggested, but, mistrusting these, he advised 
 her to remove to Marianao, where her disease became visibly 
 worse, and, fearing a fatal termination, he advised her to again 
 remove to the Isle of Pines. The patient took up her residence 
 at Xueva Gerona where the climate did not benefit her accord- 
 ing to her hopes; and, by the advice of some friends, she came 
 expressly to consult me, afflicted with the following symptoms: 
 constant fever, extreme emaciation and paleness; harassing 
 cough; rubicundity in the posterior part of the mouth, which 
 was thickly set with small ulcers; the voice disfigured; depres- 
 sion of spirits;, and the menstrual discharge suppressed. Con- 
 vinced of the paucity of the resources which the art affords to 
 combat this terrible affection, I advised her to go and use the 
 baths and drink the waters of Santa F6, confiding in the obser- 
 vations I had already made respecting the effects of those waters. 
 The patient accepted the prophylactic treatment I prescribed, and 
 proceeded there without loss of time, where the result crowned 
 my advice according to the prognostic I had expressed; and 
 three or four months after, this young lady returned to the bosom 
 of her family, and is now enjoying the most exuberant health. 
 
 8th. Mrs. M. A., about twenty- five or thirty years of age, of 
 nervous and lymphatic temperament, hepatic idiosyncrasy, ve- 
 nous diathesis, born and bred in a low damp district, after having 
 resided in Europe, under the influence of a cold and damp tem- 
 perature, contracted a laryngitis which was combated in vain 
 with the remedial agents offered by therapeutics. Several prac- 
 titioners had attended her, but the last who directed her, well 
 versed in the treatment of this disease, soon perceived that his 
 art possessed no specific to cure her, and without hopes of sav- 
 ing her, and honoring me with his good opinion, he proposed 
 himself to the patient to consult me whether she might still be 
 in a condition to be benefited by the climate and waters of the 
 Isle of Pines, which he was acquainted with only by name. The 
 disease was now characterixed as a laryugeal phthisis, compli- 
 cated with venereal humor, and the cachexy gem-rally originated 
 by the powerful remedial agents employed on similar m-rasimis. 
 I considered that her total recovery was still possible; and this 
 patient obtained a cure in the course of three or four months, 
 during which she resided in Santa F6.
 
 17 
 
 9th. C. V., a young man of twenty years of age, of lymphatic 
 and nervous temperament, gastro-hepatic idiosyncrasy, venous 
 diathesis, short stature, occupied in sedentary pursuits, was at- 
 tacked with bilious diarrhea, which, being neglected at first, 
 assumed a serious aspect; the patient being placed under the 
 treatment indicated by an enlightened and practical physician, 
 saw with grief that the former had failed, and although the cur- 
 ative plan was varied, and new remedial agents administered, he 
 was no more fortunate than before. The disease continued, and 
 the patient fell into a state of complete emaciation accompanied 
 with slow and constant fever; the unceasing diarrhea gave 
 reason to fear a fatal result, particularly as all the applications 
 most celebrated by experience and recommended by the art, had 
 fruitlessly been used. At this sad juncture, I was consulted by 
 the patient, whom I persuaded to remove to Santa F6 in the 
 autumn of 1854. So reduced and debilitated was this young 
 man, that he was unable to proceed on foot to the inn at Nueva 
 Gerona, where it was necessary to convey him from the steamer, 
 though at only a distance of two squares, in an arm-chair; on 
 the day after his arrival, he proceeded to Santa F6, where he 
 remained thirty-two days, at the end of which time he returned 
 home in perfectly good health, having gained about twenty-five 
 pounds of flesh during his stay. Since then he has continued his 
 occupations in the enjoyment of perfect health. 
 
 10th. M. I., about thirty-five years of age, of nervous and 
 lymphatic temperament, middling stature, slender muscular sys- 
 tem, occupied in writing, was attacked with dysentery, which, 
 although treated by a physician highly distinguished in his prac- 
 tice, resisted all his prescriptions; the patient, disheartened by 
 his long suffering and pitiable condition, applied to me, when he 
 presented symptoms that indicated a wasting away, difficult to 
 combat by the ordinary resources of therapeutics. Trusting, 
 however, in my experience of the waters of Santa F6, I advised 
 this invalid to proceed to use them without loss of time. He 
 followed my counsel, and removed to that place, where in two 
 months he recovered, and returned home to his customary pur- 
 suits. He now enjoys very good health, and always remembers 
 gratefully the Isle of Pines and its waters. 
 
 llth. C. B., a gentleman about forty years of age, of nervous 
 temperament, fibrinous diathesis, short stature, and occupied in 
 sedentary pursuits, was attacked by a dysentery that became first
 
 18 
 
 chronic, and afterwards rebellious to all the treatment employed 
 against it. The patient was greatly extenuated with extreme 
 prostration, harassed with the obstinate evacuation, a trouble- 
 some pneurnatorrhea, ardent thirst, scarlet tongue, total anorexy, 
 want of sleep, depression of spirits, and was in a condition almost 
 loathsome when he went to Santa F6, where, by following the 
 regimen I prescribed, he succeeded in recovering rapidly and 
 completely. 
 
 12th. A. U., of nervous, sanguineous temperament; gastro- 
 hepatic idiosyncrasy, tall stature, well formed, about forty years 
 of age, and by trade a carpenter; was attacked with gastralgy, 
 which terminated by presenting symptoms of a scirrhus in the 
 stomach. This invalid was attended by several physicians in 
 Havana, from whom he obtained no relief; he then proceeded to 
 Europe, where he was subjected to various medications, but with- 
 out benefit. He returned to Havana, from whence, without med- 
 ical advice, he proceeded to Santa F6 in the spring of 1852, in 
 which place I saw him by chance, with the following symptoms: 
 a shooting pain in the epigastric region, inability to retain on 
 his stomach any thing he ate, paleness and emaciation, intense 
 thirst, loss of sleep at night; and withal tormented with the most 
 cruel pain. He had been recommended to the Isle by some 
 friends of his, who were not professional men; and abandoned to 
 his own habits, he ate and drank indiscriminately, though he 
 vomited all he swallowed. He was taking daily two baths in the 
 spring of Santa F6; and one morning, on leaving the water, he 
 felt an extreme faintness overpower him, which terminated with 
 a vomit of coal-black substance, to which succeeded a deep swoon. 
 A few minutes after, he came to his senses, and passed a stool 
 as black as the matter he had thrown up from his stomach. At 
 this juncture I was called to see him, and found him with a 
 death-like paleness, coldness of the skin, his pulse concentrated; 
 but at the same time he felt relief from the pain which always 
 before harassed him. I prescribed for him rubefacients to the 
 surface of the skin, dry frictions, and a resolving liniment to the 
 stomach; I recommended, besides, absolute abstinence from food, 
 and advised him to promote the vomit, when it occurred, with 
 draughts of lukewarm water. The vomit and stool, with the 
 same appearance as at first, were repeated four or five- times in 
 forty-eight hours; but at each occasion the pain diminished and 
 the pulse gained strength. He abstained totally from food dur-
 
 19 
 
 ing this period, and on the third day was allowed to take some 
 light broth, which did not satisfy the cravings of his stomach. 
 On the fourth day he began to take a small portion of solid food, 
 which his stomach did not reject; and from that moment the 
 habitual vomiting disappeared, and the patient recovered his 
 strength completely. 
 
 13th. I. S. ; about thirty years of age, of sanguineous tem- 
 perament, fibrinous diathesis, wide chest, well-developed muscu- 
 lar system, a country laborer, contracted an eruption which, in 
 a few days, had extended over a considerable part of his face, 
 when he came to consult me. I prescribed for him the treatment 
 that T thought proper to arrest the progress of the disease, and 
 in order to eradicate it completely, I advised him to use the 
 baths at Santa F6, where the results crowned my hopes and the 
 patient's desires; besides which, a muscular debility in the left 
 foot, that led to frequent sprains, after the use of forty baths 
 disappeared completely. 
 
 14th. P. L., of nervous and lymphatic temperament, serous 
 diathesis, short stature, slender muscular system, and exercising 
 a literary profession; was attacked with an eruption, or herpes, 
 of venereal aspect, as well as the preceding case; and such was 
 its virulence, that it soon covered all the patient's face, depilat- 
 ing the eyebrows and eyelashes, and extending the same effects 
 to the scalp, while it affected the internal parts of the ear to 
 such an extent as to deprive him of hearing. This patient used 
 the baths of Santa F6, and succeeded in conquering the formid- 
 able enemy, which was both afflictive and repugnant. 
 
 15th. A. F., of nervous temperament, hepatic idiosyncrasy, 
 tall stature, narrow chest, and employed in mercantile business. 
 He was attacked with elephantiasis, after having suffered cer- 
 tain humoral affections, which he erroneously hoped to combat 
 with Le Roy's emetic and carthatic medicine, and the waters of 
 the baths of San Diego. He returned from that place with his 
 skin covered with tumors, more pronounced on the ears, face, 
 and nose, the channels of which semed to be affected; the skin 
 was ulcerated in some places, besides being very sensitive in its 
 entire surface, with excessive heat, and in the joints he suffered 
 severe pains. He was completely deprived of sleep, was afflicted 
 with insatiable thirst, his skin was dry and burning, and, what 
 was more lamentable still, was the excessive terror of the patient, 
 who believed his disease to be incurable. However, induced by the
 
 20 
 
 pleasing but remote hope of recovering, he removd to the Isle of 
 Pines, where he solicited my advice and prescriptions, which I 
 afforded to him, as follows: the use of the baths at Santa F6; 
 diet of white meats, particularly that of the Maja, (inah-liah 
 snake;) for his drink, the waters of the same spring, and absti- 
 nence from all stimuli, interiorly or exteriorly. I had very soon 
 the pleasure to see the remarkable change this regimen produced. 
 The patient rested well, his appetite had returned, and he had 
 gained a degree of tranquility for his mind, before so excessively 
 tormented with the idea of the terrible disease which had de- 
 prived him of hope; perspiration was restored, the tumors on the 
 skin were resolved, the ulcers cicatrized, and all predicted a 
 happy result; when, for his misfortune, he was led away by some 
 madness to gallant some young ladies, and this unpardonable 
 conduct brought on an unfavorable change, that produced anew 
 nearly all the symptoms which had been removed. As he was 
 under the necessity of remaining alone in that then desert place, 
 he lost his patience and returned to his residence, where the dis- 
 ease had originated, and surrounding circumstances tended to its 
 development. After a short time, he proceeded to the United 
 States, where he again became worse rapidly; and although on 
 his return here, he again experienced much alleviation at Santa 
 F6, he left that place, for private motives, and embarked for Eu- 
 rope. I regretted sincerely the indiscreet conduct of this pa- 
 tient, as well on his own account, being interested in his recovery, 
 as on account of the loss of an important opportunity of obser- 
 vation of the extent of the virtues of the waters of Santa F6 in 
 similar cases of human afflictions. 
 
 IGth. Miss E. E., of lymphatic temperament, hepatic idiosyn- 
 crasy, middling stature, wide chest, and of well-developed muscu- 
 lar system, in the critical period of her age began to feel symp- 
 toms revealing a uterine affection, which, alarming her more and 
 more as it progressed, caused her to consult a practitioner of 
 good reputation, who detected a number of ulcers in the neck of 
 the womb. Being in the habit of treating similar affections, he 
 submitted her at iirst to an antiphlogistic plan, and afterwards 
 used revulsive agents, applied both interiorly and exteriorly. 
 Finding no advantage in either course, he employed anti-venereal 
 substances, vegetable and mineral. After the lapse of a year, 
 under strict medical direction, and without improvement, the 
 patient consulted me, and adopted the plan I prescribed; which,
 
 21 
 
 if indeed it produced visible benefit, nevertheless did not destroy 
 the primitive focus of the disease, for the ulcers, always resisting 
 the action of the resolving and caustic agents, did not cicatrize, 
 until the patient had taken about sixty baths in Santa F6. 
 This disease, the germ of which was a vitiated state of the hu- 
 mors, had been treated with all the most heroic applications, 
 among which were the celebrated waters of San Diego, recom- 
 mended by myself; but all had failed, against the obstinate re- 
 sistance of the entrenched disease, as it were, within the re- 
 of so delicate an organ. Despairing of success, if I con- 
 tinued treating the patient according to the rules of the art, 
 and with hopes in the medicinal properties of the waters of Santa 
 !"('. 1 availed for her departure of an early opportunity after the 
 creation of easy means of travel, dwellings, and, above all, a suf- 
 ficient population to render a place, formerly uninhabited, a suit- 
 able residence for a lady. The result was complete, and this 
 lady, in order to assure her thorough recovery, revisited the 
 baths the following year, 1854. Since then she has enjoyed ex- 
 cellent health. 
 
 17th. C. D., spinster, about thirty years of age, nervous and 
 lymphatic temperament, gastro-hepatic idiosyncrasy, venous dia- 
 thesis, whose occupations, though busy, were of a sedentary na- 
 ture, commenced to suffer shooting pains towards the uterine 
 regions, and having solicited the advice of a physician, was sub- 
 jected to a curative plan, the principal agents of which were ano- 
 dynes, emollients, and resolvents; but these being found ineffi- 
 cacious, direct and indirect antiphlogistics were employed; the 
 patient, however, in a state of extenuation, more and more 
 harassed by the primitive disease, and afflicted by new symptoms 
 that made their appearance, without confidence in the result of 
 the plan she followed, applied to me for advice. At this juncture 
 an incipient ascites was apparent, besides two or three ulcers sit- 
 uated in the neck of the womb, which was turgent and hard, and 
 at the same time the seat of intense pain, while the ulcerated 
 surface discharged a humor of virulent aspect. She was treated 
 with some alterative and anti-venereal agents, the action of 
 which was assisted by permanent revulsives and a quiet prophy- 
 latic regimen, adapted to a curative plan. After the application 
 of cautery injections, there was some diminution in the intensity 
 of the local and general symptoms; and as the season was favor- 
 able, I recommended her to use the baths of Santa FC, to which
 
 22 
 
 place she proceeded, and where the first baths afforded her visible 
 relief and remarkable improvement. Two months after I saw her 
 again, and found the ulcers completely cicatrized, the volume of 
 the neck of the womb much reduced; she was free from pain, as 
 well as from all symptoms that had indicated a cachexy, which 
 inspired serious fears to the patient and her relatives. Private 
 reasons obliged her to leave the baths before her disease was 
 completely eradicated; but she is now still in a state to admit 
 of being cured, and is disposed to return to the spot which has 
 been so beneficial to her welfare. 
 
 18th. I. D., a lady of about twenty-five years of age, of nerv- 
 ous temperament, serous diathesis, short stature, and a slender 
 muscular system, was invaded by an epileptic attack, which 
 continued to afflict her. acquiring increased intensity, until it 
 produced total deafness, thus depriving the patient of the de- 
 lights that social intercourse affords, and condemning her to 
 that species of imbecility to which all those persons are subject 
 who, in the early period of -social life, enjoy but limited com- 
 munication of ideas, from the loss of one of the senses which 
 most influences the development of our intellectual faculties. 
 This young lady removed to Santa Fe", where she used a few 
 baths, which were sufficient to remove the periodicity of an 
 eclampsy, that had become highly alarming, as well for its in- 
 tensity as its frequency. The general state of this patient is 
 much improved, and all appearances inspire grounded hopes of 
 a complete cure. 
 
 19th. Mrs. Z. O., an octogenarian lady of sanguineous nervous 
 temperament, fibrinous diathesis, gastro-hepatic idiosyncrasy, tall 
 stature and well-developed muscular system, although of a sound 
 constitution, was attacked with a symptomatic dropsy and a 
 chronic affection of the liver. Alternative agents were employed 
 which corrected all the symptoms of anasarca that had made 
 their appearance. The patient did not, however, regain her 
 strength ; a complete anorexy and all appearances announced a 
 cachectic state, which at so advanced an age is always difficult, 
 not to say impossible to remove completely. This lady went to 
 take the nir and the baths at Santa Fe, and after residing there 
 a few days, her appearance and her general strength indicated as 
 good health as can be enjoyed at the age of eighty years, and the 
 increase of energy was almost incredible in a person of her :igc, 
 whose previous ailing state had caused the anticipations of all
 
 23 
 
 her friends to prepare for a fatal result. Three years have passed 
 since then, and she is now in good halth. 
 
 20th. Mrs. R. O., a lady of over seventy years of age, of nervous 
 temperament, gastric idiosyncrasy, serous diathesis, middling sta- 
 ture, slender muscular frame, and flat chested, who by observing 
 a hygienic regimen had enjoyed good health during all her life, 
 after some moral afflictions was attacked with a phlegmonous ery- 
 sipelas on the left leg; after injudicious treatment, a very intense 
 pain declared itself, and the erysipelas spot assumed a scarlet 
 color which threatened to terminate in serious gangrene. At this 
 juncture she consulted me, and I caused her to be conveyed to the 
 baths of Santa F6, which she used at first with some reluctance, 
 but soon experiencing an unexpected alleviation, in the course of 
 six days she commenced walking, when previously she had been 
 under the necessity of availing of a conveyance to the baths, and 
 at the end of the month she was free of her sufferings, and to this 
 day enjoys good health. 
 
 21st. N. A., of lymphatic temperament, hepatic idiosyncrasy, 
 about forty years of age, after having resided for some years in a 
 low, damp and wooded district at the foot of Cuzeo Hills, 
 contracted a pulmonary catarrh and humid asthma that harassed 
 him extremely, with repeated attacks that at length became sta- 
 tionary, with a degree of intensity that prevented the patient 
 from resting in a recumbent posture. After passing many months 
 in this sad condition, and having exhausted all the curative means 
 that doctors and other individuals could furnish him, he consulted 
 me. I advised him to proceed to use the baths of Sant F6,, and 
 in the mean time to employ some anodyne agent in order to 
 mitipate the intensity of his sufferings. Not approving the advice 
 I gave him, the patient preferred going to San Diego in the spring 
 of 1852, convinced nevertheless of the inutility of all the agents 
 generally employed to combat his disease, which, with its accom- 
 panying group of symptoms, gave room for grounded fears. This 
 measure, however, adopted by the patient, afforded him no relief, 
 but recollecting my opinion and my advice, he proceeded in the 
 summer of the same year to Santa F6, where he found no other 
 shelter than a miserable thatched hovel with a ground floor; not- 
 withstanding this uncomfortable lodging, the influence of the cli- 
 mate was so benign and manifest, that the first night he passed 
 there he was enabled to lie down and remain nearly two hours in 
 a horizontal posture, which, for more than a year previous he had
 
 24 
 
 not been able to assume for a single instant, and as each consec- 
 utive day afforded proportional relief, before the lapse of a fort- 
 night he enjoyed the delights of resting well all night in his bed 
 without suffering of any description. Being now cured of the 
 catarrh, and free from asthma, lie made flesh extraordinarily and 
 returned to his plantation, where, a few months after, he experi- 
 enced some premonitory symptoms of asthma, to remove which he 
 thought prudent to spend another season at Santa F, in which 
 it may be said his painful disorder was eradicated and his health 
 completely restored. 
 
 22d. D. F.,of nervous and lymphatic temperament, venous 
 diathesis, middling stature, addicted to all sorts of dissipation, 
 and residing in damp localities, repeatedly contracted v< in-real 
 affections, which, injudiciously treated, produced a cachexy that 
 threatened a fatal termination. The patient was tormented 
 with osteocopic pains, squalid, without strength, and suffering a 
 slow fever, which piteous state induced some kind persons of his 
 acquaintance to convey him to the Isle of Pines to take the baths 
 of Santa F6. For the first days he had to be carried to the water, 
 but in the course of a fortnight lie was able to go tli^re on foot, 
 with the aid of crutches, which he threw aside in about a week 
 more, as they were then unnecessary. So rapid a recovery in- 
 spired with great confidence another invalid, who in a no less 
 dangerous state was brought from the landing at Batabano to 
 the same bath; he also succeeded in .strangling, as it may be 
 termed, the formidable enemy which threatened to destroy his 
 life. 
 
 23d. S. F., of nervous and lymphatic temperament, serous 
 diathesis, small stature, but well built, employed in laborious oc- 
 cupations, and of correct habits of life, was attacked with re- 
 peated catarrhs and coryzas which she neglected in order to fulfill 
 her habitual occupations. The result was rebellious ophthalmia 
 that resisted the treatment employed by a skilful oculist, and 
 small ulcers appeared on the conjunctive membrane, considerable 
 contraction in the iris, frequent pain in the head, and throbbing 
 pain- in the ball of the eye. All the remedial agents which art 
 prescribes in similar cases having been exhausted, I was con- 
 sulted, and in consideration of the symptoms and the incflicaev 
 of the previous treatment, I recommended the patient to remove 
 to Santa F6 and use those baths as a powerful resource against 
 the general cachexy she suffered, produced by the therapeutic
 
 25 
 
 agents used, as well as by the disease itself essentially; and al- 
 though she was enabled to make use of the baths only a few times 
 during the small number of days her occupations allowed her to 
 remain there, her improvement was so manifest that nothing but 
 the emergency of unforeseen or uncontrollable circumstances 
 would have forced her to leave that spot where she met with the 
 only alleviation her distressing malady had received. Two years 
 have now passed, and she still remains in similar good condition 
 as when she left the baths of Santa Fe. 
 
 24th. I. P., of nervous and sanguineous temperament, well 
 built, and engaged in a literary profession, after repeated attacks 
 of nervous contractions similar to those produced by an electric 
 shock, to calm which he had made excessive use of anti-nervines, 
 and principally of ether, although not advanced in age, yet natu- 
 rally myope, began to feel weakness and shortness of sight to a 
 degree that prevented him from reading common print even with 
 the aid of an eye-glass. This individual, whose regimen was 
 hygienic, and whose habits were regular, attributed his sufferings 
 to no other cause than his habitual nervous disorder, aggravate*!, 
 perhaps, by the use, or rather abuse of ether; and conformably to 
 this judgment, I advised him to adopt the baths and climate of 
 Santa F6, where he resided only a month, by which time his sight 
 recovered considerably, and the painful muscular contractions 
 which so frequently tormented him, disappeared. 
 
 25th. G. B., a lady of nervous and sanguineous temperament, 
 hepatic idiosyncrasy, tall stature, slender muscular construction, 
 aged thirty years, very assiduous in the occupations of her sex, 
 and of most orderly habits, received a compression of the mam- 
 mary glands on the right side, which from a mistaken idea of 
 modesty, she left to the course of Nature, and the plan continuing, 
 an induration took place, acquiring almost the hardness of ivory 
 on the outer edge of the base of the gland, which was naturally 
 well developed. The character which the affection had now as- 
 sumed, caused her family to reveal it, and on consulting me, I 
 judged prudent, after some local emissions of blood and an ap- 
 propriate diet, to employ preparations of iodine inwardly and out- 
 wardly; however, at the end of two months under this treatment, 
 accompanied with tne use of some purges, I observed that the af- 
 fection diminished but little, which led me to recommend the 
 baths of Santa F6, where she obtained the complete resolution of 
 a tumor which seemed to have acquired a scirrhus nature. Two
 
 28 
 
 years have since elapsed, and this lady having been married, has 
 given birth to an infant that she suckles herself without suffering 
 any inconvenience. 
 
 26th. F. R., a lady of nervous and lymphatic temperament, 
 fibrinous diathesis, muscular idiosyncrasy, middling stature, and 
 well formed, of methodical and correct habits, on arriving at 
 the puberal age, suffered an obstinate pain in the lumbar regions, 
 which at length disappeared under the application of a blister. 
 Enjoying apparent good health, and well developed, she was 
 married; a few days afterward she was seized with a pain near 
 the inner ankle of the left foot, where an enormous abscess ap- 
 peared that was treated by application of the lancet under a pro- 
 phylactic regimen prescribed by a skillful practitioner. But 
 while the suppuration of the opened abscess still continued, an 
 intense pain in the lumbar region, on the left side, presented 
 itslf; which resisted every mode of treatment employed by the 
 physician who then attended her. I was consulted at this junc- 
 ture, and I detected an abscess concealed behind the muscular 
 tissues, which I opened in the presence of the attending physi- 
 cian, and we were both surprised to see the enormous quantity 
 of pus it emitted; when we expected the source, from which had 
 flowed so abundant suppuration, to be exhausted, I was under the 
 necessity of combating another new abscess which appeared at a 
 small distance from the former one, and was no less abundant in 
 suppuration. I employed some depuratory medicines, aided by 
 a prophylactic plan adapted to circumstances. The patient re- 
 covered, and two months afterwards detected symptoms of gesta- 
 tion which progressed without any unfavorable accident until 
 the time of delivery, which was effected without remarkable in- 
 convenience; but after another period of two months, she com- 
 plained of pains in the mammary glands towards the nipple, 
 where, shortly after, fissures appeared that obliged her to dimin- 
 ish, and finally to withhold lactation from the infant. Remedial 
 agents were vainly applied in order to diminish the turgescence 
 of the breasts, and prevent the consequences such a state of dis- 
 order might occasion. An abscess appeared in the centre of the 
 mass of the mammary gland on the left side; which came to sup- 
 puration in spite of every means employed to prevent it, so as to 
 render necessary the use of the lancet; and at the time when cica- 
 trization was to have been expected, and indeed after it had com- 
 menced to take place, I observed that all the base of the breast
 
 ,, 27 
 
 affected was indurated with an irradiation of a number of finger- 
 like processes of a purple color, while the nipple seemed to sink 
 into the vertex of the glandular body, the volume of which was 
 correspondingly increased. These appearances, together with 
 certain scorbutic symptoms, indicated a general cachexy; while 
 the patient's condition and hereditary constitution gave room for 
 well-grounded apprehensions for the result; I therefore advised 
 her to remove to Santa F6, hoping to correct, by the use of those 
 waters, the vitiated state of her humors in general; she followed 
 my advice, and although the unpropitious season did not allow 
 her to use the number of baths necessary, nor to reside within 
 the influence of that climate for a time sufficient to effect the 
 metamorphosis I desired, the patient nevertheless enjoys at pres- 
 ent very good health without any other vestige of her past suf- 
 ferings than the linear scar of the bistoury. 
 
 27th. R. A., a man of about thirty-five years of age, of ner- 
 vous and sanguineous temperament, tall stature, well developed 
 muscular frame, was attacked with cystitis which at the com- 
 mencement was treated by a homeopathic regimen, including a 
 multitude of the most highly recommended remedial agents of 
 this school, administered in conformity with all prescriptive 
 rules, without producing however the smallest relief. I was con- 
 sulted, and after having subjected the patient to a perturbative 
 method that succeeded completely, I recommended him to proceed 
 to Santa F6. This he was unable to effect until two or three 
 months afterwards, during which time the disease had reap- 
 peared, and in that state, he used the baths, and was totally 
 cured. 
 
 28th. N. N., a man of about fifty years of age, of nervous and 
 sanguineous temperament, of gastro-hepatic idiosyncrasy, fibrin- 
 ous diathesis, and who had suffered from humoral affections, al- 
 though possessing a powerful constitution, was afflicted with an 
 erysipelous affection which made its appearance several times, 
 but at length was cured by means of the heroic remedies adopted 
 by his medical adviser, who, nevertheless, was unable to remove 
 the traces imprinted by the disease on the limb that had been 
 the theatre of its inroads. Resolutives and emollients were 
 vainly employed in order to correct the remitting and painful 
 turgency of the leg; alteratives and evacuative agents were pro- 
 fusely administered, but the affection, resisting every remedial 
 application, continud to progress with threatening indications of
 
 28 
 
 assuming the loathsome and terrific form of the Arabian ele- 
 phantiasis. At this lamentable juncture, he consulted me, and by 
 my recommendation proceeded to Santa F, in the following 
 spring of year 1853, where, although he remained less than a 
 complete month, the thickness of the diseased leg was reduced 
 nearly an inch. This patient left the baths much against his in- 
 clination, and to my regret, impelled by imperious circumstances 
 which still continue to prevent him from returning; and although 
 a considerable time has now elapsed, the disease remains sta- 
 tionary, notwithstanding the patient's mode of life is rather of 
 a nature to foment it than otherwise. 
 
 This painful and lamentable disease seldom yields to the opera- 
 tion of the remedial agents known at the present day, for which 
 reason I have judged it may be interesting to record the present 
 case, which, however, fortuitous occurrences prevented from 
 being quite decisive, I can now state that it is not the only one 
 of the same nature that has since come within my observation, 
 and I cordially believe the baths of Santa F6 may be recom- 
 mended as a heroic remedy against this affliction. 
 
 I trust the faithful narration of the preceding cases which 
 however are not the most remarkable that have occurred, will be 
 sufficient to satisfy medical men and even unprofessional persons, 
 rather by means of facts than theory, of the therapeutic vir- 
 tues possessed by the agreeable climate of the Isle of Pines, and 
 particularly the waters of Santa F6. 
 
 The salubrity of the climate of Cuba in general decidedly can 
 not support comparison with that of the Isle of Pines. I have 
 had frequent opportunities of witnessing the cure, in the latter 
 place, of many diseases engendered, developed, and unsuccessfully 
 treated in various parts of the former. Many of the patients re- 
 ferred to had also used, but without advantage, the waters of 
 San Diego, of iladruga, and of Guanabacoa. In short, I might 
 present many patients, some of whom contracted their diseases 
 in the various localities of the leeward and windward districts, 
 some in Havana and its vicinity, in Matan/as, Cardenas, etc., all 
 of whom adopted the Isle of Pines as a last resource, and with 
 the beneficial influence of the climate obtained relief, which they 
 had not succeeded in doing with remedial agents or the changes 
 of residence they had fruitlessly tried. 
 
 The geological or geogonic structure of the Island of Cuba, 
 even in the Vuelta de Abajo, or leeward districts, and that of
 
 29 
 
 the Isle of Pines, does not seem to be the same: the latter rests 
 on a rocky base, the nucleus of which in the western sections 
 consists of granite, granitic marble, and even pure marble. The 
 valleys are covered, or formed in a bed of carboniferous earth, 
 on the surface of which sparkles a light stratum of ferruginous 
 and silicious sand. 
 
 It is plainly shown that neither the land, the mineral sub- 
 stances, the plants, the insects, nor the waters, of the two islands 
 on due investigation present the similarity that the uninformed 
 public imagines to exist, because some important general appear- 
 ances seem to correspond. The dissimilarity of the two places 
 as regards their influence on the human body is farther con- 
 firmed, and really this only explains the fact, that certain dis- 
 eases developed or fomented in the medical climate of the Vuelta 
 de Abajo are mitigated and even cured by the influence of that 
 of the Isle of Pines. The testimony of several observations re- 
 corded in these pages exists to confirm this fact, and even much 
 more might be presented to the effect as already stated. 
 
 I have had frequent opportunities of observing and recording 
 cases of the effects produced by the celebrated waters of San 
 Diego, Santa Maria del Rosario, San Miguel and Siberia in the 
 jurisdiction of Cardenas, San Pedro near Matanzas, Madruga, 
 Guanabacoa, El Cacagual, Marianao and El Copey, all of which 
 have cured numbers of patients. These waters, various in their 
 qualities and temperatures, are not less so in their effects; and 
 when well indicated produce wonderful results. However, neither 
 these nor their respective localities offer a medical tempera- 
 ment uniting the favorable circumstances enjoyed in the Isle of 
 Pines, which cure paralysis, syphilitic affections, diseases of the 
 stomach, of the venous organs, of the bladder, of the skin, and of 
 the eyes, as efficaciously, or more so, than those of San Diego; 
 they correct chronic dysenteries more effectually than those of 
 Marianao and El Copey; they cure gastralgy as efficaciously as 
 those of Siberia and San Miguel, and finally, every species of dis- 
 ease that I have had opportunity to see relieved or corrected by 
 the use of any of the above-mentioned waters, I have also seen 
 cured in the Isle of Pines, which, besides the advantage of a va- 
 riety of mineral waters, enjoys that of a purer and drier atmos- 
 phere, a more unvarying temperature circumstances that pro- 
 mots most favorably the physiological reaction indispensably 
 necessary to correct a diseased condition.
 
 30 
 
 Should I be suspected of exaggeration in the preceding exten- 
 sive assertion, I refer to the testimony of facts, which will an- 
 swer objections more satisfactorily than my arguments. Of the 
 former, many interesting rases will be found on perusal of The 
 Treatise, published in 1850 by Dr. Ramon Pifia y Pifhiela, on 
 this subject. I could also furnish several cases that have oc- 
 curred since the publication of these pages, which would be as 
 enlightening for medical practice as curious and interesting to 
 science. In June, 1855, four hundred men, lately arrived from 
 Spain, and destined for the army in Cuba, were sent to the Isle 
 of Pines. At that period, the black vomit was prevalent in Ha- 
 vana, and such soldiers as had the fortune to escape destruction 
 by this disease, were attacked by Asiatic cholera, which had like- 
 wise extensively invaded the military hospital. In this emer- 
 gency, the Government, observing that the unfortunate recruits, 
 even if they were saved from the vomit, rarely escaped the cholera, 
 between Scylla and Charybdis as it were, determined to send 
 the recently-arrived individuals to the Isle of Pines, as the last 
 asylum for these unfortunates who found themselves threatened 
 by two formidable enemies, against which medical skill was not 
 always successful. This measure, adopted under the pressure of 
 circumstances, was effected without the necessary time for pre- 
 paring commodious lodging for the troops sent, the number of 
 whom was much greater than could b*e accommodated in the bar- 
 racks. There not being either a sufficient number of beds pro- 
 vided for the new comers, the first who arrived on the Isle were 
 under the necessity of passing the first days in the utmost dis- 
 comfort, and obliged to sleep on the ground. Most unfortunately, 
 two individuals were attacked by cholera immediately on their 
 arrival, and died shortly after being taken to the hospital, but 
 neither in this building nor in the barracks, where their fellow- 
 travellers resided, did any subsequent case of cholera appear; 
 and in spite of the narrowness of accommodations for nil, and 
 the fact of many being quartered in lodgings hastily and recently 
 built, and consequently damp and ill-furnished, not an individual 
 among upwards of four hundred men was attacked by the vomit 
 or the cholera; and the fate of three or four who perished may 
 be attributed to the imprudence or ignorance of youths destitute 
 of precaution. 
 
 It has already been observed \\ilh the young custom-house 
 guards and political prisoners newly arrived from Spain and sent
 
 31 
 
 to the Isle, destined to undergo hardships and loss of liberty,, 
 with numberless bodily privations as well as moral sufferings, 
 exposure to the weather with a complete change of habits, that 
 among upwards of two hundred individuals, not a single case of 
 the vomit occurred. In consequence of these facts, the expedi- 
 ency of establishing convalescing hospitals was suggested to the 
 government, which has since been effected, as well as the creation 
 of a school of military discipline for the young recruits. 
 
 The recapitulation of the preceding statement specifying the 
 regiments and number of individuals sent by each to the Isle of 
 Pines is as follows: 
 
 Regiments Patients Cured. Died. 
 
 Espano 1 1 
 
 Ysabel II 18 6 2 
 
 Corona 8 6 3 
 
 Lanceros , 8 8 
 
 Artillery 7 4 3 
 
 Cuba 10 9 1 
 
 Union 31 28 3 
 
 Merito 1 1 
 
 Cantabria 28 32 6 
 
 Farragona 16 10 6 
 
 Milicios 1 1 
 
 Deposito 1 1 
 
 Habano 1 1 
 
 Napoles 4 2 2 
 
 Leon 28 21 7 
 
 Total 173 138 35 
 
 These 173 patients were removed from the hospital rather with 
 an intention to console them than with the pious hope of saving 
 138, with a loss of only 35, when the latter as well as those cured 
 were considered incurable; and their miserable condition may be 
 comprehended from the fact that one of them died on the way, 
 and two more a few hours after arriving. 
 
 As the Isle of Pines has never been thoroughly and studiously 
 surveyed, it is still, as it were, an unknown region, and as I am 
 desirous to see its advantages duly appreciated and improved, I 
 should be happy if the "Directors of Public Works," whose prov- 
 ince it is to assist with science and means the rural and manu-
 
 32 
 
 facturing industry of the country, would afford its aid to such 
 enterprising individuals as, although disposed to speculations, 
 dare not to risk their capital by investment in a place of which 
 comparatively nothing is known. The greatest service that could 
 be afforded to the Isle, would be a commission from that illus- 
 trious corporation, directed to Senor Don Luis de Casa Seca, and 
 to the distinguished engineer, scientific individuals, and mem- 
 bers of the same, for the former to execute the analysis of the 
 waters and the lands, and the latter to occupy himsett in the 
 scientific survey necessary to decide the practicability, the trifling 
 labor, and the short time that would be required for the opening 
 of a small canal at Boca Ciega, and at the entrance of the river 
 at Nueva Gerona. 
 
 Upon the labors of the chemist depends the scientific applica- 
 tion of the waters of the Isle to the treatment of diseases; as 
 well as that of the lands to agricultural purposes, which occupa- 
 tion may be considered unknown there, and even the possibility 
 of establishing it is generally denied. For my part, though far 
 from entertaining the ridiculous pretension to consider my own 
 opinion of account in the matter, I can bring facts to prove, 
 that even in the lands of common quality, I have grown tuber- 
 culale vegetables, plantains, rice, Indian corn, sugar-cane, coffee, 
 tobacco, pine-apples, melons, and even garden-stuff, nothing in- 
 ferior to the productions of the most celebrated lands of Cuba. 
 The chocolate-nut, and all other fruit-trees I have planted, have 
 grown vigorously and thriftily. 
 
 I venture to predict that the beauteous and salubrious Isle 
 of Pines will very shortly acquire the renown she merits, hereto- 
 fore withheld on account of her position, retired among marine 
 keys, unknown, it may be said, to individuals capable of appre- 
 ciating her advantages. The Isle of Pines, rich in medicinal 
 \\ liters, fertile lands, canopied with a beautiful sky, resting on 
 ;i firm and dry soil, with a magnificent port that would encour- 
 age commerce with all the Mexican coast the Isle of Pines, I 
 repeat, may very soon emerge from the state of neglect and con- 
 tempt to which she has been here-to-fore condemned. 
 
 THE END.
 
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