The record-union., 1898-09-06
REVIVAL OF A REFORM.

In our reforms relating to the public
health we are apt to move by fits and
starts. A couple of years ago all civil
lied States were more or less stirred
up by the agitation regarding the pre-
vention of the spread Of consumption
by adopting and enforcing certain sim
pie and feasible regulations, such as the
sequestration Of the confirmed sufferer
from tuberculosis, prevention Of expec-
toration by them in the public streets,
refusal to them of places in public as
sembly, and similar requirements and
prohibitions.
Some of these suggestions took the
form Of ordinances, and are still en-
forced in few localities. But it can
not be said that the proposed re-
form took any deep hold upon public
thought The fact is that the people
have not yet been fully educated up to
the acceptance. of two great truths,
namely, that tuberculosis is communi-
cable, and that it's spread may be
as to reduce suffering and death from
it by two-thirds.
When the people are thoroughly con-
vinced upon these points, as the medi-
cal faculty is already, then We may ex-
pect general laws to be enacted and
enforced against tuberculosis, precisely
as are the laws against smallpox, sus-
tanning quarantine, requiring seques-
tration of cases Of diphtheria, etc.
The tuberculosis question is about to
be revived. A large number of the
most distinguished physicians of Eng
land, including the President of the
Royal College of Physicians, the Pres
ident Of the Royal College Of Surgeons,
the distinguished Sir William Broad
bent and others, have issued a letter
calling for the formation Of "The Asso-
citation for the Prevention Of Consump-
ton and Other Forms Of tuberculosis !"
Their purpose is, they declare, to pre-
vent the spread Of the most fatal dis
ease known to mankind, and this reso-
luton is based upon the solemn convic-
ton that the task may be accom-
plished
Rightly these eminent physicians
have resolved to begin by educating
the public upon the subject That is
what must be done in the case of all
reforms. Until public sentiment stands
abreast with reform proposition it
will make but slight headway. The as
sociated physicians say:
1t has gradually become definitely
known that tuberculous disease, of
which pulmonary consumption, or
phthisis, is an example, is not inherent
in the constitution, but is communi-
Gated indirectly from pre-existing
cases; and the principal methods by
which 1t Is spread have been identified.
Tuberculous disease, which in one or
other Of its forms, is responsible for at
least one in ten Of the deaths from all
causes, and, according to some calcula-
tons, for one in six Of the deaths
among adults, is, therefore, prevent
ible. For this the education Of the
public is needed in the methods of pre-
vention and eradication, and the stimu-
lation Of individual effort in carrying
them out. The objects of the assocfa-
ton are the dissemination of inforrna-
ton, the arousing of public feeling as
to the necessity for defensive meas
ures. and the provision of sanatoria
which will be both preventive and cura-
tive, for the open-air treatment of con-
sumption.
Happily for these philanthropists, the
subject has been taken up afresh by
the leading journals Of England and
Scotland, and their support Of the as
sociation has been unsolicitedly ten
dered. We may expect the association
to call upon the brethren Of the Amer
lean faculty to take like action, form
National and State associations and
thus push the educational work in this
country. That will be the right way
to do it. In no other land is there such
intimate relation between effective laws
and public sentiment as in America.
Our people are not difficult to con-
vince Of any truth. When it is shown
to them that the purpose of the new or
ganizations is to reduce the ratio of
mortality, enhance the happiness and
immunity of the well, and at the same
time to treat the consumptive in the
most rational and merciful manner con-
sistent with the safety of the well, the
practical application of the reform in
this country will begin.