The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-06-16


The careful and thorough inquiry of
Dr.. Lawrence f. Flick concerning the
cases of tuberculosis in one ward of
Philadelphia during the last twenty-five
years has led to the organization in that
city of Society for the Prevention of
rected attention to DR.. Fliclz's work.
Since that time he has completed charts
or maps of all the blocks in the Fifth
Ward of Philadelphia, which show the
location of each fatal case of consump-
ton or other tubercular disease that has
been reported in the last quarter of
century. 1t appears that there have
been such cases in about 20 per cent. of
the houses. The charts show in some
houses ten or twelve cases, while in the
adjoining dwellings the disease has not
been found. DR.. Flick is well acquaint-
ed with the medical history of the ward,
and his charts support the conclusion
derived from his own observation and
experience, that great many cases of
consumption in that district have been
caused by infection through the agency
of houses and rooms in which consump-
tives have been i'll and have died.
The honses in which there have been
many fatal cases during the last twenty
five years are those in which there has
been successionof tenants following
family in which one OF more persons sue
cumbed to the disease. Thorough disin-
lection might have made the house harm
less, but without such distinction it was
L,.or, r<N,. be VN,,1l,
one half of the cases of consumption in
the Fifth Ward are believed to be due to
| living in infected houses. A family I'M
suspecting moves into one of the houses
| which on the map are marked with black
| dots. This house has just been vacated
| by family in which death from con-
| sumption has occurred. The weakest
| member of the incoming family succumbs
| to the disease, the infection spreads to
| new victims, and death reaps a greater
| harvest"
| The new society will do the greater
part Of its work among the poor. 1t will
| teach them how consumption is commu-
nicated by infection and how this infec-
| ton can be avoided. 1t will cause all
| cases of consumption te be reported to
| the Board of Health and to be registered.
| We presume it will urge the health off
| GERS to provide for the disinfection of
houses and rooms in which consumptive
| persons have died, if this precaution is
not taken by the occupants themselves.
Three years ago the Board of Health
| in this city procured from its patholo-
gists report concerning the infectious
nature of tuberculosis and the precau-
tons that should be taken by persons ex-
| posed to infection. The board afterward
circulated in the city printed summary
| of instructions prepared for guidance of
snch persons. The Philadelphia society
| goes much further in the same direction
and will undertake to cut down the death
rate by trying to enforce the teaching of
| science and experience. Undoubtedly it
| is possible to reduce largely the number
of fatal cases of consumption by enforc-
| ing the sanitary laws which have recent
| ly been revealed by psychological re-
search and the observation of such inves-
tigators as DR.. Flick. Consumption is,
of all diseases, the most destructive. 1t
causes one seventh of the deaths that are
recorded. The number of those dying of
| this disease in Philadelphia in the last
five years was 13,411. Now that the in
! fictitious character of the disease has
been clearly established, health authori-
| ties everywhere should strive to instruct
the people as to the precautions to be
taken for protection, and should use
| their powers to enforce reasonable regu-
| lations for the benefit of those who will
not or caD not he instructed