The evening times., 1899-11-15
DISCUSSIONS ON HEALTH.
Papers Read Before the Maryland
Medical Faculty,

1
semiannual meeting of the Medical and Chi
rurgical Faculty of Maryland was held yes
terday in Fireman's Hall. About seventy
five members attended, many Of them from
Baltimore. who came up In the morning ant
returned in the evening. Others came from
other points in Western Maryland.
A feature Of the meeting was the dis
cussion Of the home treatment OF consump.
tion- Others were report on medica
conditions in the Philippines and discus.
sion on typhoid fever in country districts.
DIR. Clotworthy Birnie, president Of the
faculty. called the meeting to order few
minutes after the arrival Of the morning
train from Baltimore. DR.. Joshua ". Her.
ring welcomed the visitors to Westminster
in an informal address. DIR. Herring made
pleasant reference to his recent success
full campaign for the Office of comptroller
OF the treasury Of Maryland. He said ht
and the president Of the faculty had re-
Gently been lecturing in another field Of sci
ence, and said he hoped their brethren
would bear with them il they inadvertent-
iy made a slip, and said fellow citizens
| DR.. Birnie responded and said he was
glad to have the meeting of the faculty In
this place for it's effect on the profession
| in the county. He said he believes that
the doctor has a higher aim than the relief
| OF suffering. The doctor should teach men
to live better. to take better care Of their
bodies, and to live better and higher life.
DIR. William Osler. OF Baltimore. read a
| paper On Home Treatment Of Consump-
tiOn." He prefaced his paper with the
| statement that 95 per cent OF the cases
l seen nv nhyeicianS are upahIo AFFORD
| treatment away from their homes in the
| city. OF the eight or ten thousand cases
| In Baltimore, few live under strict re-
gime.
For more than two centuries he said,
.'the clearer headed members of the profess
sion have known that an open-air life
sometimes cured a case of phthisis. One
of the earliest and most interesting cases
of this kind is reported by John Locke,
the philosopher, in his "Anecdota Sydenha-
miana."
THE quality Of the fresh air in our
large cities may not be very good. but it
is the best large proportion Of our pa
tients can possibly get to breathe. and 1t
is great deal better than the atmosphere
Of the overheated. illventilated rooms in
which a majority Of them live.
II give the following directions: Take
the almanac, and count off the hours of
sunshine. In winter cut off two hours in
the morning and an hour In the evening.
and for the rest Of the day the patient is
to be out Of doors. II there is no possible
arrangement for life out Of doors, the pa
tient is to be in a room with southern
exposure. The bed is to be moved into the
sunshine. with the windows wide open. II
there is a balcony or veranda with a good
outlook toward the south. it should be ar
ranged for the patient; il not, shelter
can be put up in the yard at a very moder-
ate cost. On a well-padded lounge, COW
cred with a couple OF thicknesses OF
blanket well wrapped up. the patient sits
or reclines all day, coming in only to at
tend to the calls of nature. Only on blus
terry stormy or very rainy days is the pa
tient to remain in the house, table can
be arranged 80 that the midday meal may
be taken out of doors. No degree OF cold
is a contraindication.
This continuous open air life at rest is
the most powerful influence We possess to-
day against the fever of tuberculosis. 1t
may take month. it may take two or even
three months before the temperature
reaches normal but 1t has been one Of the
many valuable lessons which We have
learned from DR.. Trudeau. that In the fever
of consumption the patient should not only
be out of doors. but at rest, taking no eX-
ercise.
Second, the diet The stomach controls
the situation in pulmonary tuberculosis. In
any long series OF cases the patients who
do well are those who take plenty of food.
An important cause of the lack OF appetite
and feeble digestion is the persistent fever
and We often find that as the temperature
falls the appetite improves. 1t is easy to
lay down rules, but hard 10 carry them out.
Each case must be dealt with separately.
but as large a quantity of food as possible
should be given. 0verfeedinga or stufing.
when possible. should be practised and the
patient should be encouraged TO pay as little
attention as possible to his subjective gas
trio sensations.
For some time / have been urging the
patients 10 accustom themselves to taking
raw eggs, beginning with one three times
a day and increasing one a week until they
took, if possible, twenty or twenty-four a
day. Broken into the egg cup, sprinkled
with little pepper and salt, the egg can
be readily swallowed without breaking the
yolk. 1t is most important to get the pa
tient accustomed to taking the natural
foods-mlk. cream, butter meat, eggs, and
oysters should constitute the main part of
N.''
DR.. Millet related improvements in all
the patients, gain in weight and probable
arrest Of the disease.
DIR. Joseph E. Gichner OF Baltimore,
called attention to the need Tor state
sanitarium for persons suffering with con-
sumption who are not able to have the
overfeeding and outdoor life at home. He
spoke Of the sweatshop district and fac
tories, where there is every tendency to
distribute the disease from infected per-
sons, who thus become a menace to the
public at large.
DR.. ]. C. Hemmeter called attention to
the need of an appetite for overfeeding
and the lack of digestion where large
meals are eaten without appetite. The au-
thor of the paper and leader of the discus
sion replied that the outdoor life supplied |
the appetite in almost every case
Dr. Simon Flexner. formerly of the Johns |
Hopkins Hospital, now Of the University |
of Pennsylvania, gave an account OF his |
trip to the Philippines as the head Of a |
party Of investigation. which comprised, |
besides himself DR.. L. F. Barker, Messrs. |
Flint and Gay, advanced medical students, |
and Mr.. John w. Garrett He described |
the hospitals in Manila, which include |
general institution and leper hospital un- |
der civil care. and three reserve hospitals.
under military supervision, in addition to |
the hospital ship Relief and the regimen
tai hospitals, which are virtually only de-
tention camps. His work, he said. was in |
connection with the first reserve hospital |
in a laboratory, which was stocked with |
apparatus taken from Baltimore and set |
up in an abandoned Filipino house, on the |
banks of the Pasig. The structure was
little shaky for microscopic work, but they
soon became accustomed to that. Their
work was carried on among the American
soldiers and also the natives the latter