The Baptist headlight., 1893-11-17

| The recent action of the Michigan State
Board of Health in placing consumption on
| the list of contagious diseases and requiring
safeguards to prevent its spread, is causing
widespread newspaper discussion as to the
propriety of similar action in other States.
Not only has the Michigan Board of
| Health taken this radical step. but the COun-
| ty Medical Society. of Philadelphia, has peti-
| toned the Board of Health there to isolate
consumptives. The Pan-American Con-
| greSs also passed resolution at the recent
| Washington convention calling on the Ma
| tional Government to take steps in the same
direction. even going so far as to ask Presi-
| dent Cleveland to give his personal attention
| to the matter.
The result has been that National, State
| and civic authorities have been appealed to,
thereby causing CONSERVATION to thousands
| of consumptives in every State in the Union.
| who are in terror lest they should be torn
! from their homes and friends, and turned
| over to especial hospitals, which, in reality,
| will be pest houses.
The turmoil which the proposition has
created is steadily increasing. and great
wave of opposition is appearing.
| Friends of cOnSumptlyeS declare that If lSO-
| lation of the patients is attempted i'll special
! hospitals, numerous Outrages will result and
| that not only will unfeeling persons who
| want to get rid of sick relatives. dump them
| upon the hospitals. but Vaccinations will
| arise of a most evil character. Small trades
men. for instance, afflicted by cough, may
| suddenly find themselves moved out of their
competitors way, by judicial process which
| will send them to the special consumptive
| hospital to end their days
| Some declare that while the appearance of
smallpox or cholera in the land is the signal
! for Immediate, widespread alarm, and the
| Inauguration of severe repressive measures,
which iS nj and Is
chrOnically epidemic, is allowed to take an
unchecked course, the people not realizing
that it is far more deadly than any other dis
ease, and is slowly but surely increasing its
silent ravages. 1t is claimed that as half of
the people who have consumption do not
realize the fact, they spread false conf
dence among their friends, who carelessly
allow themselves to come in contact with the
victims, and are. in turn. fatally infected.
The n. Y. Herald, commenting on this
subject, quotes the action of the Congress de
la Tuberculose, recently held in Paris, in
which the following resolution was adopted:
I'm view of the fact that life in common of
consumptives with the other patients in the
hospitals is disadyantageOus both to them
selves and others, and that the risks that
they run and to which they expose others are
not compensated by any serious profit, the
members of the Congress are of the opinion
that all cOnsunptlve patients should be
SdlllCIGU lO3clIltI III special uOSDlldIS III
groups, according to the period of their dis
ease, and that these groups should be as
small as possible at the earliest stage of the
complaint.
in consideration Of the fact that in the
| present condition of the science a continu-
Gus and sufficient supply of pure air is one of
| the most powerful elements in the treatment
of tuberculosis, it is also advisable that these
hospitals should be built in the country, or at
| the Sea-shOre.
Finally, as a transitOry measure, to last as
short time as possible, cOnsumptiveS
should for the time being, be united in spe-
| cial wards in the hospitals, apart from those
of the other patients. and the walls and fur
niture of these wards should be disinfected
at stated intervals"
| Another scheme for the isolation of con
| sumptives, which has just been announced
by the Denver (Colo) News, is to the effect
| that W. n. Byers, representing syndicate
| of Boston capitalists, has applied at the of
| tce of the Colorado Land Commissioner for
sections of land on which to colonize con
sumptives from New England. The idea is
| to erect suitable buildings and put the pa
| tlents at gentle work, attending to fruit and
| poultry, bee culture and gardening, insist
| ing, all of the time, upon suitable physical
| exercise. The idea is that patients in the
| first stages of consumption might be bene-
| fitted in the mild, dry air of Colorado and
! that their light labors can he turned to the
pecuniary advantage of the syndicate.
| The Cincinnati Post over year ago inter
ested itself III the question of the cause of
consumption and the possibility of its cure
| Since that time many other newspapers have
devoted attention to the subject.
Recent statistics, carefully gathered. have
| shown that One-seventh of all the deaths in
| the United States from disease are caused by
consumption, and this startling fact. promi-
nently presented. has served to increase the
| agitation which has been aroused.
In order to get at the opinions of the lead
| ing physicians of Cincinnati on the latest as
pect of the case, /. e.. that relating to the
| proposed isolation of consumptives, inter
views We're secured with Drs. Whitaker. Jud-
klns, Amick. Drumming, and others.
| DIR. William JudkInS said: Il thoroughly
| believe in the scheme for the isolation of
| consumptive patients. The best plan is to
take the patient out of his home and put him
| in house specially built for consumptives
| The idea may seem a harsh one, but it Is Ger
| tainly in the interest of friends of the suffer
er. The great trouble with the project would
| be to get patients IN the first stages of the
| disease to go To such a retreat. Most of
| them don't believe that they have conSump-
ton. and you cannot convince them to the
| contrary.
DR.. Whitaker said: Il do not approve of
| the isolation project simply because | do not
think it would do any practical good. $50
| latlon. the taking away of a conSumptive
| from his home and friends, would be rather
| inhuman."
is every case of consumption the result Of
| contact with some other case. or J. the dis
! ease sometimes sporadic. like cholera:'
No. There j. no such thing a. sporadic
, consumption. 1t j. not even an inherited
| disease. Every case owes it, origin TO com
| munlcatIoa. Many cases of consumption
are contracted at bedSideS. One patient can
give il TO twenty we'll persons. Strong men.
| with no predispoSitiOn that way. Get il. Why.
one Of the worst place, 10 CONTRACT consurnIA
tion l. IN a postotfce corridor. A consumr-
tive coming in spits on the floor. He
spreads the germs of his disease to be inhaled
by Others who enter. There should he Gus.
pidorS in post offices, in market houses and
IN all other public places. Splitting by con
! enmNt.ves urnn sidewalk. Is rot ~ dan,.r.