The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-02-01
Plans Against Worst Enemy Of
Human Lite.
TUBERCLE BACILLUS POWERFUL
Common and Uncommon Modes of
AttaCk-ContagIo Disease.
Miik-New Treatment.

LONDON, Dec. 23.-No event during
the past week has attracted more at
tention than the meeting of the So
ton, held on Wednesday, by invitation
of the Prince Of Wales, at Marlboro y,
House. CT all enemies to human life
in this country the tubercle bacillus is
monest and most fatal mode of it's at
tack is, of course, the invasion of the
lungs. But it may settle in the joints
(white Swelling) or in the spine, thus
producing nine-tenths of all cases OF
humpback and spinal abscess; in the
skin and its glands, when it is called
'scrofula; and again, in the case of
children, in the bowels and their
glands; and upon the brain-covering
(meningitis). The recognition of the
fact that all these evils are attributa-
bic to the agency of a bacillus has as
yet unfortunately given no direct as
sistance in the cure of the disease when
established, all germicides capable Of
destroying the germ in the body be-
coming poisonous to the patient long
before they are strong enough to af-
feet the bacillus. But it has given an
enormous advantage with regard to the
prevention OF the evil. And it is to
this end that the society has been or
ganiZed.
The need that exists for its laborS
was we'll demonstrated in the opening
remarks of Sir William Broadbent in
addressing the meeting at Marlborough
House. He said:
We learn from the returns OF the
Registrar General that nearly &C, 900
deaths are every year registered as due
70 tuberculosis in England and Wales
alone, and 10 this number may be
added a considerable percentage Of the
deaths set down TO acute affections Of
the lungs. in which tubercle has played
an unrecOgnized part. OF these over
1000 are from consumption, 5000
from tuberculous disease Of the in
testines and mesenteric glands, and
6 800 from tubercular meningitis. The
destructive work of tubercle does not
end here: $500 deaths are attributed
to other forms Of tuberculosis, among
which are diseases of the bones.
Humpback. hip-joint disease, disease
of the knee, ankle, elbow. wrist and
other joints, which cripple or disable
so many children, are the sign manual
of tubercle.s
Even this state of affairs is a great
Improvement on that which existed fif-
ty years ago. Since then, by improved
hygiene. SubSOil drainage, greater at
tentiOn to ventilation and to the con-
struction Of dwellings, the number of
deaths from consumption and other
forms OF tuberculosis has been reduced
by more than 80 per cent. One form of
diSeaSe only shows no decrease, and
that is tables meSentarica, the disease
of the bowels in children, traceable to
tubercle conveyed in milk and this has
increased and is increasing. Speaking
of the disease. Sir William BrOadbent
proceeded:
1T is now definitely known that con-
sumption is a contagious disease: that
it is communicated from person TO per-
son, and from animal to man, and that
it arises in no other way. 1t is not an
inherited vice in the constitution which
declares itself in course of time; but,
while some constitutions are more
prone 10 it than others. and while an
unhealthy mode Of life and unwhols-
some surroundings predispOse to its
attacks, every case of consumption is
derived from some preeXiSing case.
Phthisis, with all the various forms of
tuberculOus disease, is the work Of a
micrObe-the tubercle bacillus discOv-
cred by Koch. This living organism is
present in countless millions in the
diseased lungs or intestines or bones,
BY its multiplication it blocks the
minute blood vessels, chokes the air
vesicles and destroys structures, and
H. - = -
it gives rise 10 febrile disturbance
nocturnal perspiratiOns and wasting
1t is by the transmission of these
bacilH that JuberculOus diseases o. all
kinds are spread. The principal way
in which they are conveyed from a dis
eased TO a healthy person is by means
of the eXpectOratiOn. which contains
them in enormous numbers, and which
when dried is suspended in the atmos-
phere, especially of illventilated rooms,
in the form of dust, and inhaled. Hap
PLY. they are not present in the breath
of the cOnsumptive patient, so that
consumption is not contracted merely
by breathing the same air or living in
the same house with a sufferer"
There was one other great cause of
tuberculous disease to which Sir Will
liam referred. Cows. he said, are, IN
fortunately, very subject to tubercu-
lOsis, and sooner or later the bacili
find their way into the milk Through
milk so contaminated infants and
young children become affected with
tables mesenterica, tubercular menin-
gifts and disease of the bones. The
flesh of diseased animals may also con-
tain the bacilH. From this he drew the
conclusion that if we would insure the
destruction of all the sputa of sufferers
from phthisis. and secure a supply of
flesh and milk absolutely free from
/ tubercIe baccin, all the diseases due
TO tuberculosis, which now cause one
seventh or one-eighth of the deaths,
/ would cease.
/ \ couple of weeks ago, when the
/ great Smithfield Cattle Show was be-
| ing held in London, 1 had a converse