George Washington - Digital Gallery

An essay on the nature and cure of the phthisis pulmonalis, or, consumption of the lungs, 1785

This American reprint of a book authored by Thomas Reid, describes warm sea air as a treatment for pulmonary diseases, such as tuberculosis. When George Washington's older half-brother, Lawrence, contracted tuberculosis, both men visited the Caribbean island of Barbados seeking a warm sea air cure.

Courtesy National Library of Medicine