[Monte Carlo,} 30 May 1882 

Dear Frep, 

After the application (the 3rd in Monte Carlo) of a vésicatoire* on 23 
May I did in fact have another appointment with Dr Kunemann 
before today, but only in connection with my ‘bronchial trouble’. 
Quo-ad* my pleurésie, however, he found today, after a lengthy final 
examination, that the épanchement* was ‘gone’; what remains is 
so-called dry pleurésie; there is no longer any moisture to retard 
matters; however the sound of one membrane rubbing against the 
other, to put it in popular if incorrect terms, still remains. He thought 
it would be beneficial to finish up with one more vésicatoire today and 
then move on to Cannes for a day or two, after which I would be able 
to take myself off to Paris. 

He thought I had contracted pleurisy quite accidentally; consider- 
ing my normal, robust physique I might just as well never have got it, 
or, by the same token, have done so — accidentally! —as much as 40 
years ago. Getting rid of it is harder because of the danger of a re- 
lapse. 

As I was made to parade my naked charms, front and back, he 
drew my attention to the fact that, previously, as a result of pleurisy, 
my left side had swollen by comparison with the right; now it was the 
other way round, for my left side (I refer to the affected spot) had 
contracted by contrast with the right, this being the result of my trai- 
tement.* So as to rid myself completely of the last mementoes, as it 
were, of pleurisy, [ am to spend some time /ater on in the mountains 
where the air is more rarified. My lungs must be ‘set to rights’ again 
by gymnastics of this kind, gymnastics imposed upon them by the 
locality. It was all the more difficult for me to follow the details in 
that he sought to bring them (the details) home to me in French 
frequently interspersed with Alsatian German, but also with some 

@ vesicatory-" As to-° discharge-* treatment 

Yanxee-English. However one thing was clear, and that was what 
Dr Stephann had told me on the first day: Your thorax is what it is, so 
if spurious tissue takes up some of the space that one lung should 
occupy, that lung must make do with less space. The said tissue disap- 
pears in proportion as the lung re-expands. I have only just left 
Dr Kunemann, i.e. it’s now nearly 6 o’clock in the evening which 
(6 o’clock) is the latest posting time ror ro-pay. Tomorrow — because of 
the final vésicatotre to be applied tonight — writing will be out or THE 
question; day after tomorrow I shall have to recuperate and so it’s 
‘unlikely’ that you'll get any further news before the 2nd or 3rd of 
June (as I shall also have to pack). 
With best wishes. 

Old Moor