The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-19
ATTACK ON CONSUMPTION.
WORLD WIDE MOVEMENT IN PROG
RESS AMONG MEDICAL MEN.

| EVERY ftItN mas the DiseASe--tp nut
Prof. Evans. Chief of the First
Public Hospital for COnsumptives
in America Says About Cnre-Re-
giOns Where the Disease Is Rare.
How the Germs Are Carried-PrO-
portion OF Cases Durable.
Chicago Feb. 1.-THE most remarkable
movement now in progress among medi-
cal men the world over is the united at
tack on consumption and other forms cf
| tuberculosis. 1t is only seventeen years
since Prof Koch first discovered the real
nature of tuberculosis, that it is caused
| by a bacillus and that it is contagious.
| With this knowledge TO work from, statis-
tcians .have found that tuberculosis is by
| far the most terrible of all diseases. He
has found that OF the deaths from all
| causes between the ages of Is and 60 years,
| oDe-third of the number are victims of tu-
berculosis; and that it kills four, and a
half times as many people as do small
pox, scarlet fever, typhoid fever and diph-
! iberia combined.
! one case of cholera in a European sea-
| port sets the ponderous quarantine sys-
TENS of a dozen governments at work. a
| case of yellow fever in Central America
sends SILVER of apprehension around the
globe. But medical authorities are agreed
that the world has seen its last great cpl
demic of either cholera or
yellow fever. These diseases are
| becoming milder and mlder ana
| quarantine methods throttle them in their
| incipency. But no elimination Of viru-
| lence has been marked in tuberculosis. No
quarantine has ever been made effective
against it. Yet Prof. Leyden is quoted
as an authority for the statement that at
any given time in Germany 100000 per-
| sons are afflicted with tuberculosis, and
| Osler that in America 100000 have that
disease at all times. In the swaying
| crowds of New York and Chicago, one
person in every fifty has tuberculosis. No
| specific has been discovered for its treat
ment. The world is apathetic toward the
| ravages of the disease. Compulsory vac
cination against smallpox is insisted upon
all over the civilized world, but to-day
| the medical profession is hampered by the
| knowledge that were the specific for tn
berculosis known, the world would not be
ready to avail Itself of the discoveries.
A Cure VIII BE Found.
But that specific will be discovered"
insists Prof w A. Evans. chief of stafr
in the new Chicago Hospital for Con-
| sumpuves. I'VE have found the germ;
we know its habitat; under what cen.
dtions lt thrives, and under what condi-
tons it deteriorates The medical pro-
fession is awake to the evils of tuberculo-
sis, and il is closing in on it in a way
that makes absolutely certain the discov~
cry Of a cure for tuberculosis. But be-
fore that cure is established the world
must have learned its lesson. 1t viii
learn it. too. The forces are in hand now
which shall press the truth home to the
| uttermost parts of the earth"
-Four hundred years before Christ,
phthisis was described by Hlpporcates in
a manner to command the admiration OF
the physician of to-day. Some Of his OBJ
servations in that remote age stand IN,
| challenged after $500 years. Gaen knew
the disease and added knowledge of 1t 10
medical history. Villemin proved the in.
fictitious nature of it to the French Acad-
envy of Medicine on Dec. 4, 1865 Seven
teen years later Prof. Koch discovered
the bacillus which gives life to it, thus
marking the greatest epoch in the history
of tuberculosis.
Prof. Hirsch, who has deived deep into
this most formidable of all diseases ar
ficting the human family, says: ut IA
emphatically a disease Of all times, all
countries and all races. No climate. no
latitude, no occupation. no combination
of favoring circumstances forms an in
fallib.e safeguard against the onset of tu-
! berculosis, however such conditions NAV
mitigate its ravages or retard it's prog
ress. Like typoid fever, phthisis dogs the
steps of man wherever he may be found
and claims its victims among every age,
! class and race"
Where TubercOIOsis Is Rare.
There are favoring ATTITUDES and condi-
Iceland, In the New Hebrides and in the
Shetland Islands. The Persian plateau,
the plains Of Syria and the walled pre-
cincts of Jerusalem are nearly free from
| it. Among the Bedouin Arabs and the
nomads of the Russian steppes. phthisls
is almost unknown, but when these wild
people come under the influences OF civili-
cation, they die rapidly from its ravages.
In like degree other parts OF the earth
are conducive of phthisis. In Northern
| Greenland ii is the most common cause of
| death, and in the Hawaiian Islands ii is
estimated that two-ffths of the deaths
from all causes are from tuberculosis.
Stratus is authority for the statement
that tuberculosis Is the least contagious
| of the germ diseases. At the same time
the Influence of civilization make for its
dissemination. The death rate from it in
crowded cities is far greater to population
than 1t is in country districts. In Berlin,
1850 persons die every year from tuberco-
losis In Paris. 1900 lives are sacrificed to
1t, while in Chicago, $500 victims are num-
bered. The awful significance of these
figures is better understood when It is
pointed out, as docs Bertlllon, that in each
1000 deaths from tuberculosis, 760 out Of
| the number are between the ages of 20 and
80 years-the bread-winners and the home
makers of the world
Dust and MIX Carry the Germs.
The most common conveyanees for the
| bacilli Of tuberculosis are dust particles in
| the air, and the milk from COWS suffering
| with the disease. Through the air, the
| germ from dried sputum finds Judgment In
| lung tissues and pulmonary tuberculosis
| or consumption is the result. From milk
! the germ causes tuberculosis OF the diges-
| tive organs. In either case the duration
| Of the disease Is from two to three years
| Given a case of tuberculosis, the pa
tents station in life has much to do with
| his chances for recovery. In the crowded
| tenement quarter of the great cities bad
| MI lf...s Il.