Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-09-02
CONSUMPTION.

Men who have devoted their lives to
the >tiiiv8f' the ailments that lessen
lnmlamtln ai,,l' comfort have learned
ihai he germs of consumption may be,
and, are, conveyed from one human be-
ing 10 another. from man to the lower
aninals, and presumably from the low
or animals To man. Cats and dogs
peii"l hN consumptiyes have died OF
tub rculo>is, although evidently free
from lilt disease when they began to
receive HE deadly carcsses. Animals
and birds fed upon the flesh, the milk,
or oihtr products of tuberculous beings,
have. upon examination, exhibited the
ravagcS of the DESTROYER. The very air
we breathe may be, and often is. laden
with the germs of this maladv by the
cough of the consumptiyc. The sputum
of the sufferer from this disorder is a
vehicle tarrying the seeds Of death.
. Even the iluitering breath of the diving
patient nayf,onycy the poison to the
loving friend, bending in anguish to
catch the last sign of recognition.
How shall we be saved? How shall
/ we protect our dear ones from the APP
proach of this all-peryading danger
from foe SO insidions that often its
victory is nearly won before we more
than suspect th attack II the micro
scope has shown the truth, and if the
students have interpreted Alright, the
germs of consumption Turk in homes
endeared by generations of pleasant
associations, and by those tender sor-
rows which, mellowed by time. are more
binding than joys can be. Consump-
ton creeps into bright new homes I'M
der the guise of friendship, or of love;
and it hides in our daily food, and de-
stroys more lives than fall before any
other disease.
The infinitesimal germs of tubercu-
losis are in the beef, The poultry, the
butter, and cheese we eat and even
more often in the milk our little ones
receive as the best food we can give
them. The germs are hidden in bed
ding and clothes, adhere to the frirni-
ture and the walls about lis, and float
in the air we breathe. Our babes may
be poisoned by the very pets they fon-
die, and the source of evil be unsus-
pected. And worse; friends and rela-
tives suffering from the ravages of the
malady, knowing that for them life is
swiftly nearing its end, longing for hui
man sympathy and such consolation as
the companionship of loved ones can
give, 90 about among those loved ones
sowing tine seeds of a disease that will
in turn wreck their lives, and bring
long suffering and sorrow upon others.
And thus the evil spreads.
But who can say to a doomed friend:
"Your breath is poison; your fond kiss
es are as the touch of death to those you
caress; you scatter in your path fatal
virus that saps the vigor of the strong,
that cuts down in their prime the beau
tiful and the good, that entails upon the
young lingering pain. and upon others
lifetime Of suffering and sorrowr'
Who can find it in his heart to forbid,
to the consumptive, association with
the healthy; to demand that victims of
the destroyer shall remain isolated from
friends and kin? Yet this should be
done, if the scientists are right
Fortunately for mankind, while the
Investigators have been telling of the
evils which result from the association
of the consumptiye with the sound, and
from the use of food in which the germs
of the disease are, they have also been
suggesting ways by which the extern
sion of the malady may be checked, and
by which ffany of those afflicted may
shake off the hold of tic destroyer. The
preventive meals to be adopted are, in
part at least, those used in cases of
other contagious diseases Consump-
tives should not be allowed to 90 from
house 10 lUHSe. as they now do. visiting
their friends and acquaintances; they
should never be permitted to bctray un-
to death BY kisses innocent babes and
unstIspicious friends; nor should the
tubereulous patient be suffered to re-
main in the room where others Sleep.
nor remain coughing whore others are
The bedding, the clothing, and even the
furniture used by consumptives should
besavoided, rs should also the places
which they haunt, as they do so many
pleasure resorts and so-called sanitaria.
E. W. Perry, ia The Current.