Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1897-03-04
TUBERCULOSIS
Discussed BY Dr. Bessey In Paper Before
waterville Clinical Society.

Remarks on tuberculosis by DR.. A. +.
Bessey at the annual meeting Of the
Watervilie Clinical society.
ton In the profession and among the
laity. Statistics show that 1t causes
about IA per cent or one In seven Of all
deaths. and that It causes today more
deaths than small pox. diphtheria scar
let fever. typhoid fever. typhus fever.
yellow fever. cerebro-spinal fever relaps-
eoash he ana room
the ravages Of war fill the world with
lamentatioh and horror: but that is In
significant compared with the silent un-
sis. The lesson of today to be driven home
to the public mind Is that tuberculosis.
| which includes consumption, Is con-
| tagious disease. and that ii can be. to Il
large extent. restricted.
In 1852. DR.. Koch of Berlin. discovered
| that the cause Of all tuberculosis was
the entrance into the human system OF a
minute germ called bacillus tubercnlo-
sis. And today all the best authorities
consider this bacillus to be the real cause
of tuberculosis. but all agree that the
environment and vital resistance of each
individual has much to do with Fastening
or. retarding Its propagation.
Assuming that the bacillus tuberculo-
sis is the cause of the disease. let us
briefly consiaer some of the ways in
which the germ enters the human sys-
tem and consider also what measures are
adysa6le for public protection prot, I'll. The
the digestive organs. with the food: and
by the air passages, from infected air.
When the bacilli enter the body. they at
which to propagate. They enter the blood
| vessels and travel to the minutest parts
of the body. The delicate membranes OF
the brain are reached; the intricate parts
OF the ear are invaded: the delicate
| structures of the eye are traversed by the
bold invaders. The vocal chords do not
escape; the lungs are favorite dwelling
| place. and. in short, no organ of the
| body escapes the intruder In search OF
4 suitable food and soil for propagating
| Its race. the air passages. and the d.
| abodes. If the tubercular bacillus finds
| anywhere a spot furnishing the suitable
conditions for its home, 1t stops there and
fully numerous family. Hundreds, soon
millions. develop and crowd together
forming small. circumseribed mass,
bacilli-sometimes a few. sometimes many
| migrate from this point and develop
new homes. and form new tubercules.
And so the process is apt to go on. until
the health begins to yield. and. in time.
the bacilli conquer another@life.
The Atmosphere we breathe contains
contaminated? The breath of the con-
sumptive patient becomes LOADED with
them: his eXpectoration contains millions
tHtIu lutE are also eliminated DN
the bowels and kidneys. We obtain some
| idea of the numbers of this terrible enc
| my to the human race by studying the
report Of case in the Johns Hopkins
| university. where work OF this sort is
done as ably as anywhere in this or any
other country. 1t appeared that the ex-
pectoration of single given case was
four ounces in twenty-four hours. and
that it contained four billions Of tuber-
| Guile bacilli -more than enough to infect
| the whole human race. One-half drachm
| OF this sputum. or about the quantity of
a single eXpectoration. contained more
| than sixty millions. or about one apiece
for all the inhabitants of the United
States.
Now. assuming that this patient at the
Johns Hopkins university was an average
| case who can estimate the bacilli in the
sputum of all consnmptiyes that eS-
floors of halls. public waiting stations.
street cars. factory and workshop floors.
and especially schooroom floors? Let us
recall right here that these bacili are
hard to Kill. Freeze them all winter. and
they are lively for the work of spring
and summer. Pack them in ice for years
they come out active ready for a vic
tim. The expectOration on these floors
and sidewalks and in public conveyances
Is dried and ground into the dust. and
wherever that rests. The dust rising
from the floors may contain millions OF
these germs: to be breathed i'm by every
one coming In contact with the dust
Extensive experiments are now being
made with dust from public conveyances'
public halls, schoolrooms: hospitals. &c.
experiments in New YORK are h of Special
interest Dust from some elevated cars
was found infected with tubercule bacilli.
| The dust from rooms in tenement houses.
Where tuberculuS tenants had lived. was
often fairly loaded with these bacilli. es-
pecially If the tenants had not properly
baci Inc sPnism In one , instance
dant and lively in wall paper ten years
| after the room had been occupied by a
lilthy tu6erculous patient In this way
become thoroughly infected, and are IA
constant menace to the employees of low
| natural powers of resistance.
The dust from the various sources men,
| TONED contained also other poisonous
germs, which would be an additional
s Mopee OF sanger to- human beings
| common carrier of pathogenic germs
| especially the tubercule bacilli The hair
| OF a pet cat or dog of a tuberculous pa
tient becomes a common carrier of the
disease.
| Another course of danger which is now
awakening keen interest in this vicinity
is the existence of tubercular bacilli in
| meat and especially in milk. The iden-
tity Of tuberculosis as it occurs in man
nnd in the domestic animals. is estab-
| experimental evidence that the disease is
readily communicated from man to the
lover animals. and that the destructive
as those observed in man. 1t has been
estimated that from to Is per cent OF
| mich cows are tuberculous The bovine
race Is especially liable to the disease.
Cows that are confined to close quarters
are more liable to the disease; and the
highly bred and richly fed COW Is much
more liable to be tuberculous than the
SCRUB COW of our daddies. that wan
dered over the hilly pastures in summer
boarded barns.
Those who assume Il conservative posi-
tion that contend that the danger is very
small. and that we lack sufficient posi-
1--WE data. experimental and physiologicaI
to warrant us in formulating definite con-
ciusions on the subject. Recent literature
abounds in such data from many scien
titc observers of unquestioned competen-
cy. which show that the danger from tu-
berculous meat and milk is very great.
nave not time to refer to many Of
these authorities. The report of the Row
AZ commission on Tuberculosis, London
1880, IS perhaps the most important re- !
cent communication on this subject. The
Medical News" January 90 1897. gives
an eXcehent summary of this report
which will quote: :.
TINS report is based on "a the exneri
ments of DR.. Sidney Martin. who fa,l
pigs. guinea pigs and rabbits on meat an.
mix derived from tuberculous animals.