The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-05-11
Consumption.

DR.. Felix Oswald in the Popular
Science Monthly defines consumption as
essentially a house disease, and says:
Irrespective of ace differences and
special dietetic habits, the habitua1
breathing of vitiated ar leads to the
development of pulmonary scrofula.
And science has furnished the
rationale of that result. Physiology
has demonstrated that air is gaseous
food, and respiration a process of di-
g%estion. The atmosphere furnishes
the raw material of the pulmonary
pabulum; at each inspiration the
organism of the lungs imbites the
oxygenous or nutritlve principle of the
air draught. and excretes the indi-
gestible elements. BY breathing the
same air over and over again, the at
mospheric element becomes azotized;
j.. e., depleted of its DEMONSTRATING
princip G, and therefore unfit to supply
the wants of the animal economy. The
continued inhalation of such Initiated
ar fills the respiratory organs with indi-
gestible elements, which gradually ac-
cumulate beyond the dislcdging ability
of the vital forces, and at last corrupt
the tissue of the congested organ and
favor the development of parasites.
Consumption is one OF the
diseases that seem to confirm
the tenets of the germ theory.
a tubercular diathesis is favored by
~stagnant impurities in the circulatory
system, by a warm andhumid climate,
and counteracted by cold air and other
antiseptics. Six years ago a German
physician demonstrated that the pro-
gress of pulmonary scrofula can be ar
rested by a pectoral injection of car
bolic acid; and one Cf his countrymen
lately ascertained that the tubercle
veins are alive with microscopic para
sites that multiply like the spores of
q prolific mushroom. The first de-
velopment of these lung devourers
would seem to amount to a sentence
of speedy death; yet their ~fecundity
hardly exceeds that of cartain inteS-
final parasites, and the Wis vitH has
methods of her own for dealing with
such foes, is EVER to begin the battle
for life on the sole condition that we
do not complicate the difficulties of
the undertaking by c~ounteracting her
efforts or by perpetuating the infu-
ence of the original cause Cease to
feed the lungs with azotic gases and
DR.. Rocks animalcul9 will starve and
disappear as surely as man worms will
starve and disappear if we change a
pork and sourkraut diet for bread and
apples.
In all ATTITUDES the disease KNOWN
as pulmonary consumption is caused
by the breathing of vitiated air and
can be subdued by outdoor exercise,
says DR.. Oswald, and while he does
not say cured, yet in all stages the
progress of the disease can be arrested
by outdoor eXercise alone. This writer
believes that outdoor life will cure the
human organism of any disease not
too deep rooted. An hours walking
each day will keep the lungs catarrh
proof. The night air superstition is
to be abandoDeI and all bedrooms
should be kept well aired night and
day. A rain shutter should be at
hand so that in stormy weather the
air can lie admitted. After the pre-
judice against open windows has been
cured, the repugnance to outdoor eXer-
else in winter must be overcome.
The best lung food is coed air, and
after that fresh, sweet cream. Salt
pork is the worst, and salt meat,
pickles, pungent spices, cheese and all
kinds of intoxicating liquors are to be
avoided. The diet recommended for
those troubled with pulmonary dis
eases is composed Of graham bread,
honey, beans baked with butter instead
of pork, and a liberal dessert OF sweet
fruit, as sweet grapes, pears, straw
berries and stewed pruneS. DR..
Oswald a V it is fallacy to suppose
that the night is an u%nfavorable time
for the assimilation of a hearty meal.
Animals rest after repletion, and some
IF them never sleep till they have a
good meal to diges'. He prescribes IA
glass or two of sweetened cream just
before going to bed, not as a food, but
as a medicine. 1t is an established
fact, he adds. that fat counteracts
a tuberculous diathe us. C~onsumptives
should sleep much in pure air, avoid
exciting emotions and stay out of
crowded assemblages. If the danger
is recognized in time the virus al be
worked off by outdoor exercise. The
article is an able discussion of the sub
,ect, and it will repay perusal.