Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-01-29
HOW TO FIGHT DISEASE,
CLIMATE AND CONSUMPTION iNvES-
TiGATED BY EDWIN A. cuRLEY.
About One-Ninth of the American Peo-
pie Probably Die of the Fell Disease,
Though the Statistics Are Nat Exact.
The North Carolina Sanitarium.
Special CORRESPONDENCE. ]

AsHEvILLE, y. c., Jan 19-Not far from
one-eighth of all the deaths in American
cities and one-tenth of those in rural dis
tricts are caused directly by consumption
or other form OF tuberculosis. None is
entirely safe from it, and all have lost rela-
tlves or friends by its ravages. 1t is there
fore no wonder that such eager expectation
waits on the experiments and discoveries
of DR.. Koch. which seem TO show that in
some forms of this disease it is possible 10
poison the hacilh without killing the pa
tent
According to the census OF 1880, of every
million of our population in American
cities 2,S55 died in that year of consump-
ton, and in rural districts l.692 We have
reason TO believe that very considerable
proportion of deaths in rural districts fail
10 be recorded. and consequently that
these figures are much under the fact.
Estimating the average of the whole coun-
Try at 500 and the population at q, 0OO. 900.
IL follows that consumption Kills 100, 600
persons in the United States in single
year.
Thanks to DR.. Koch's great discovery, we
may hope that it will be almost completely
extirpated, not because his lymph will
raise the dead or even restore the mort
ound; not necessarily because in itself il is
worth even tenth part as much as wise
prevention or half as much as well known
sanitary and climatic conditions applied in
early stages of the disease, but because il
rlVets the attention of the acutest minds
and has the ear of the general public
w nat Is now known TO comparatively few
VIII become common property. 1t will be
made fuller and more precise, and be sup
plemented by other important discoveries
In climatology and sanitary science. The
sanitarian, climatologist and poisouer of
bacilli will join their forces. and cases too
extreme TO yield to any one will be con
quered by a combined assault.
have been engaged in many special in
designations, in the course of which have
seen many persons-perhaps some thou
sands-who have been cured of consump-
ton by climate and care.
! left Brooklyn, n. Y, for the present
investigation on Thanksgiving last, and
made my first stop in Washington, where
for nearly week, delved into statistics
and hunted such information as the CAPT
tai was able to afford The investigator of
climate and consumption" is rs greedy
for statistics as the bank examiner for
ledgers, but it does not follow that either
designs to impose upon the public Il sur
felt of his peculiar food
There Is not state in the Union where
people do not sometimes die of malaria
out In some places 1t Is the most prevalent
OF all diseases, while in Others it Is very ex-
ceptional If you are afflicted with this
enervating agent the doctor can poison the
bacilli with quinine, but if there Is danger
that he will kill you with the same nedi-
cine you had better 90 to "A more favora-
bic climate if possible Vital statistic
should very clearly indicate the part of the
country IL which your natural forces will
overcome the enemy with very little aid
from the pOisOnS Of the apothecarv.
The same reasoning applies to consumD-
Clon, but not in the same degree There
are some places so malarious that in our
present state of medical knowledge and
sanitary appliances a white man can
scarcely remain there through a summer
season and live. There is no place so dead
~ because of consumption, and | know of
no place 50 entirely safe from consumption
as some are from malaria But the city is
worse than the country. dry climates are
generally preferable TO wet. and sunny re-
gions safer than the dark northern slopes of
great mountains. Statistics tell us also
that a larger proportion of negroes are
killed by the tuberculosis bacillus than
whites more women than men, and more
people in crowded parts of the CITY than in
regions inhabited by the wealthy, and that
certain vOcatiOns are deadly in comparison
with others. All of this indicates the i'm
portance of good sanitary conditions and
plenty of fresh air
You had friend strong and healthy,
but at some period when her vitality was
unusually low, and a cold had injured her
lungs, she was taken with consumption
and soon died. You have another friend
whose lung troubles commenced some
years ago. Every summer ne is a little
better, every winter he loses-perhaps a
little more than he has gained-but the
fight of his vital forces against the myriads
of their microscopic enemies has not been
altogether one sided, although your eli
mate is an unfavorabe one In that case
persuade your friend to go to some salu-
brlous cline where few die of consump-
ton, and if he has not delayed too long,
If no mistakes are made, and other things
are equal, he will almost certainly recover
The probability is strong that not only
your two friends but you yourself have
inhaled tubercular bacilli in appalling
numbers. You have also eaten them with
your beef. and most certainly, if you live in
a large city, you have swallowed them all
alive in your milk This was done by Your
two friends well as by yourself with
impunity for many years, because none of
these enemies found a lodgment 1t is not
inherently impossible that you could battle
your hands in a pint of undiluted rattle
snake poison with perfect impunity. and
yet if one small part OF drop reached the
living blood through some wound in the
skin, so slight as to be quite unnoticed. the
strongest measures would have to be taken
or you would suffer much and possibly die
In Europe the general practices is to keer
game till it is little high" before cook
ing. 1t is not only more pleasant to the
accustomed palate, bat it digests more
easily when decomposition has definitely
set in before it is cooked and eaten. Yet
it is strong poison, and a little of it in.
iected beneath the skin would be very like
ly to cause what is called "blood poison
ing" and death.
The integument which covers the ulti
mate particles of blood circulating in the
lungs Is exceedingly thin and porous 1t
keeps the blood particles from ''spilline
out" and freely admits the atoms of oxy-
gen, as a bag of thin cotton will hold the
finest chpt v-hila y,arrpitc