Rocky Ford enterprise., 1893-11-16
ISOLATION OF ALL CONSERVATIVES.
RADICAL MEASURE PROPOSED.
Widespread Consternation Among Con-
sumPsivss Caused by the Suggestion
to Place Them In Special Hos.
PitaJa ~ . Means of Pre-
venting the Spread OF
the Disease,

the list Of contagious diseases and requiring
safeguards to prevent Its spread, is causing
widespread newspaper discussion a. to the
propriety Of similar action In other states.
Not only has tho Michigan Board of Health
taken this radical step, but the County Med
ical Society, of Philadelphia, has petitioned
tho Board of Health there to isolate con-
sEmptives. The Pan-Amcr.can Congress also
passed resolution at the recent Washington
convention calling on tho national govern
ment to take steps In the same direction, even
going so far as to ask President Cleveland to
give his personal attention to the matter.
The result has been that national, state and
civic authorities have been appealed to, there
by causing CONSERVATION to thousands OF con-
sump,ives In every state in the Union, who
are In terror lest they should be torn from
their homes and friends, and turned over to
"'pecinI hospitals" which, In reality, will be
The turmoil which the proposition has Gre
ated is steadily increasing, and great wave
Of opposition is appearing.
Friends of consumptives declare that II iso-
lAtion Of the patients Is attempted In 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 machinatlons will arise OF n
most evil character. Small tradcsmen, for
instance, afflicted by q cough, may suddenly
find themselves moved out of their competi-
tors way: by judicial process which will
send them 10 the special consumptive hospital
to end their days, TX
Some declare that while the appearance OF
smallpox or cholera In the land is the signal
for immediate, widespread alarm, and the In
auguratlon OF severe repressivc measures,
CONSUMPTION which Is always presen: and Is
chronically epidemic, is allowed to take an
unchecked course, the people not realizing
that 1t 10 far moro deadly than any other dis
case, and is slowly but surely increasing Its
silent rayages. It Is claimed that as half OF
the people who have consumption do not re-
allse the fact they spread falec confidence
among their friends, who carelessly allow
themselves to come In contact with the VIC
Tins, and are, In turn, fatally infected.
The New York Herald {, commenting on tho
subject quotes the action OF the Congress de la
Tuberculopa, recently held in Psris, 10 which
the following resolution ~as adopted:
SIN view of the fact that life in common OF
consumptives with the other patients In the
hospitals Ia disadvantageous 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 mcm-
bsrs Of the Congress are OF tho opinion that
alfc0nsumptive patients should be gathered
togeihers " sspsaial-t hospitals in groups, nc
cOfding to the period pf their disease, and
thEt these groups should be US small Us posi-
BILE at tho earliest stage OF the.complnint.
SIN consideration Of the fact that In tho
present oOpdiion of the science continuous
and sufficient supply of pure air Is one of the
most powerful elements In the treatment OF
tuberculosis, 1t is also advisable that these
hospitals should be built In the country, or ut
the seashore. 49,
FINALLY, as transitory measure, to last ms
short time as possible, consumptivcs should,
for the time being, be united in special wards
patients, and tho walls and furniture of'these
wards should be disinfected at stated inter
vals.n- s7.t
Another scheme for the isolation of con-
I-..
the Denver (Colo.) Ne,cs, is TO the effect that
W. N. Byers, representing syndicate OF Bos-.
ton capitalists, has applied Mt tho Office of the
Colorado Land Commissioner for sections of
land on which to colonize consumptives from
Now England. The idea is to erect suitable
buildings and put the patients at gentle work
attending to fruit aud poultry, bee culture
and gardening. insisting all OF the time, upon
patients in the first stages Of consumption
might be benefited in the mild, dry air Of
Colorado md that their light lnbors can be
turned to the pccuniary advantage of the
syndicate.
Tho Cincinnati Post over year ago inter
csted itself In the question Of the cause of
consumption and the possibility of Its cure.
Since that time many newspapers have de-
voted attention to the subject.
Recent statistics, carefully gathered, have
shown that one-scventh 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
ngttation which has been aroused.
In order to get at the opinions OF the lead
ing physicians Of Cincinnati on the latest
aspect of the case, 1. c. that relating to the
proposed isolation OF consumptIves, inter
Views were secured with Drs. Whitaker, judi
k.ns, Amlck, Drumming and others.
DR.. William Judkins said: ~ thoroughly
believe In the scheme for the isolation of con-
sumptive patients. The best plan is to take
the patient out of his home and put him in
house specially built for consumptivcs. The
idea may seem a harsh one, but 1t is certainly
in the interest of friends OF the sufferer. The
great trouble with the project would be to
get patients in the first stages OF the disease
to 60 to such n retreat Most of them don't
believe that they have consumption, and you
cannot convince them TO the contrary"
DIR. Whitaker said: ~ do not approve Of
the isolation project simply because do not
think 1t would do any practical good. Isola-
tion, the taking away of n-consumptive from
his home and friends, would be rather In
human" -'
"Is every case Of consumption the result of
contact with some other case, or Is the disease
sometimes sporadic. like cholera'"
'.No. There ts no such thing us sporadic
consumption. 1t is not even m inherited
disease. Every case owes Us origin TO com:
contracted at bedsides. One patient can give
It to twenty well persons. Strong men, with
no predisposition that way, get 1t. Why, one
Of the worst places to contr9ct consumption
coming In epits on the floor. He spreads the
germs Of his disease to be inhaled BY others
who enter. There should be cuspldors In
postoflces, In market houses and in an other
public places. Splitting By .consumptives upon
sidewalks Is not so dangerous, as the open mir
disseminates the germs more widely than in
building"
"Do you think that consumption is increas-
ing or decreasihgf' a.
aProbably decsenslng, ,on account Of better
methods used In treating II. The newspapers
can do great good by calling attention to the
great dangers Of consumption and noting the
necessity for grehtcr-care IN g1inrdIng against
the disease. People are too careless. No
doubt isolation would be Of benefit to patients
and do good, but-it could not be enforced"
Dr. W. r. Annick, Who resigned his profess
sorship In the Cincinnati College OF Medicine
and Surgery, held for seventeen years, to de-
vote himself to curing consumption, said:
II am, Of course, opposed to isolation, be-
cause my eheuFv q that consumption Is not
directly produced BY any outside cause. i
bold thas the bacillus mIsrobe Is the effect, or
product, and nos thge eaasc Of the disease, so
i is very evident, In my opinion, that isola-
ton would accomplish no good"
sYou mean TO say, then, that the thhaling
Of the dried-up sputa, containing these MI
crobes, Is not harmful" ----.s
HOn the contrary" DR.. Amick replied,
'tany dust or extraneous matter would pro-
duco q mech anical Irritation OF the parts and
~. H., ~ ncoa stab luuQ frnuhlo-o ha fu.