Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-23
THE CAUSE OF CONSUMPTION.

of preparation, we must wait until the ex-
perlments are done, and DR.. Koch would GER
tainly not be justified in yielding to the
popular desire to know its nature until he is
convinced that he can make it known with
safety. Now, the different kinds of tuberculo-
sis are all characterized by the samebaelIus,
and as to the mooted question whether or
not the tubercular bacillus is the cause OF
consumption or any tuberculous malady, Or
only product of the disease processes, that
has been authoritatively determined, and
there is no question whatever that the
bacillus is the cause and the only cause of
consumption.
"The different varieties of tuberculosis are
briefly these, the disease resulting in what
ever portion of the body the bacillus gets
lodgment in: The most common is tubercu-
losis of the lungs; there is frequently
tuberculosis of the bowels, sometimes there
is tuberculosis of the interior organs, and
tolerably often OF the surface of the skin.
The world is full of microbes. Most of
them are not only harmless, but are in
calculably beneficial in destroying dead
matter. But among this myriad are a few
which may and do cause disease when they
find lodgment in the body.
GETS IN ALONG WITH DUST.
zone of these baleful microbes is the tu-
berculosis bacillus, which for the most part
gets into the system through the dust which
we inhale, which deposits it on the lung It's
sues. Where this germ lodges in the lungs
or elsewhere in the body little new growth
may occur, and this new growth is called q
tubercle. Not all persons are equally sus-
ceptible to the growth of the bacillus, as in
a great many cases the germ is inhaled with
out doing any harm, and the tubercle if de-
veloped is short lived. But always and
everywhere it is the bacillus, and it alone
which causes the disease.
"Why7 In the first place, we can practi-
calIy, in all cases, prove the presence of the
bacillus tuberculosis in all the tuberculous
tissue. We may cultivate it in the labora-
tory, and get it in pure form. We may In
oculate it into animals, and produce tuber-
cles similar to those from which the tuber-
culosis came, and we never find this bacil-
lus anywhere except in connection with tu-
berculosis."
THE TENNESSEE sANITARIUM.
One-seventh to one.fourth of all the deaths
occurring are the result of tuberculosis. AL
ready a company of some of the leading
medical men of the United States and Of
Europe has been formed with capital OF
nearly So, ,0O0, 900 to perfect a sanitarium in
which the Koch method may be tried on
consumptives under the most favorable sur
roundings of climate, water and mountain.
DR.. Alfred Cooper, of London, is one OF the
distinguished foreigners deeply interested in
the undertaking.
The plans for the building, which is to be
situated near the Cumberland Gap, in Ten
nessee, on spot found, after long search, to
offer the most perfect natural advantages,
have been submitted to DR.. Billings, of
Washington, who designed the Johns Hop
1vs to1 oy,l 10 H. D.. nj I 4
phla. DR.. Alan Mclane Hamilton, the
eminent nerve specialist, of this city, is at
the head of the company, and DR.. Fordyce
Barker and DR.. D. B. St John Roosa, of New
York, are on the Advisory Board, in which
some eminent St. Louis and Boston physi-
clans will be represented. The building is
already well under way. The lymph is to
be prepared by one of the assistants of DIR,
Koch, with whom negotiations are now in
progress.
1t is learned that DR.. Holbrook Curtis, of
this city; Drs. Gibbon and Clement God
son, Of London; DIR. Fletcher Ingall, of
Chicago, and William Pepper, of Philadel-
phia, are also interested in the project.
HEREDITY AND CONSUMPTION.
Bacillus tuberculosis ITSELF" said DR..
Prudden, sis not transmitted from mother to
child, but the predisposition to the growth
and effects of the bacillus may be trans
mltted, and; 1t is this which has been re-
garded as evidence of the heridity of con-
sumption. We know that children of tuber-
culous parents are often tubercular. But
as they live in close contact with those par
ents they may not only be predisposed to
tuberculosis but are exposed to actual con-
tact with the bacilll which may be thrown
of the persons of the parents in sputum or
excrement of any kind. There is COM
mon, but erroneous, belief that the breath
of consumptives may communicate the dis.