The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1890-05-10
OPEN-AIR TREATMENT.
The Influence of Country Trips on Com
sumptive Tendencies.


sumptive Tendencies.
There is strong conviction that life
in the open air serves an excellent pur-
pose in warding off threatened attacks
of phthisis or in curing it. Generally,
however, it is believed that to obtain
the benefits of air locality distant
from the patients home is imperative
on the mountains, by the sea, at the
South or in the North, etc. As matter
of fact, most patients are unable to
leave their homes. If treated at all,
they must be treated In the State in
which they reside.
Many years ago physician who had
spent nearly eighty years in Vermont,
over fifty Of which he was in active
practice, told the writer that shortly
after he began the practice of medicine
he broke down, and was told by his
medical advisers that he was attacked
bv consumption. He took his horse and
wagon, and for three months spent his
time in riding about New England and
New York. He would travel far and
near, daily, according to his inclination.
At the end of the period he returned to
his home and professional work, and
continued it almost without interrupt
ton till nearly eighty years of age. lie
died at last, not from any disease, but as
the "deacon's one-horse shay" vanished,
all at once without any apparent cause.
Kr- sainor forms this observation of
the effects of open-air travel has many
times been confirmed by the reports of
careful observers. DR.. II. I. Bowditch
(Med. News gives valuable contribu-
ton in support of the value of open-air
travel TO consumptives. In 1908 his
father had all the indications of con-
sumption. With friend he took tour
of New England in one-horse chaise.
The first day he travelled twenty-five
miles, but his exhaustion and haemop-
tysis was so great that he was urged to
return home to die. But he pushed on,
and every day brought him improved
health. After his return home he took
regular open-air exercise, and died of
carcinoma of the stomach thirty years
later, at the age of siXty-fvo. One lung
presented evidence of an ancient cicatrix
dG 4Vo dp0A3 uuG JUL WClC OlucfM1Sc
healthy.
He says that his father married his
cousin, who died of chronic phthisis two
years before his father. OF eight chill
dren, one died at birth, and one at
eleven. All the others arrived at adult
age and married, several being still
living. OF the ninety-three direct de-
scendants of his father, not one was
phthisical. This result was attributed
to the journey, supplemented by the
following outdoor exercise, and careful
regulation of the health of his children.
Dr. Bowditch thinks that many pa
tients die from want of open-air treat
ment. He directs each of his phthisical
patients to walk daily from three to six
miles; never to stay at home all day
unless a violent storm be raging. If
the weather be very cold he directs
them to wear respirators. He forbids
standing still on the street to talk to
friends. He thinks that by following
this plan patients may. be cured at
home, and while still conducting their
business; this seems sound sense. Bet
ter Use the air at our doors and near our
homes, before we fly to other air hun
dreds or thousands of miles away.
To those unable to walk sufficiently
far to reach the best air near home
without excessive fatigue, it is advisa-
BILE to use horse and buggy, or team
driven by the patient, which is far bet
ter. The therapeutic value of spirited
span of thoroughbreds, to one able to
manage them, is very great, and these,
too, can be added to the effects of the
open air proper. Consumptives are only
one of many classes of people who would
be thus benefited. Detroit Lancet.