The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1900-11-19

tive could take many precautions 10 pro-
tect themselves from contagion. The SICK
person BY refraining from spittlng, eA-
cent in properly constructed cuspidor
in which the sputa could be treated with
chemicals that would destroy the germs
would remove the greatest danger,
People. he thinks. should be instructed
not To inbale the breath of consumptiTes,
while sleeping in the same room, ana par
tierIarIv in the same bed, should be de-
barred All manner Of close contact Dr.
Woodward thinks. should be relig1ously
avoided by the healthy who are thrown
into association with those suffering with
consumption BY precautions such as
these DR.. woodward believes the spread
OF tuberculosis would be materially less
ened. II general education along this line
would not completely eradicate the dis
ease within a generation or two ne is sat
isfed that it would be removed from the
category of the most dangerous OF mala-
dies.
with reference 10 hospital treatment Of
consumption Dr. Woodward said that
there was not a hospital in the District
that would undertake to receive consump-
tives. especially at the hands OF the mu-
nicipality, in the first stages Of the dis
ease. If they should do so their wards
would almost Immediately be filed, and
gave greater promise Of cUEe. The dis
ease is so nearly incurable he said, that
the hospital that opened its doors to con-
sumptives would soon be filled with pa
tients who would be sure to die after i'll
nesses lasting from six months to three
years. Regarding a special HOSPITAL for
the care and treatment OF co1sstrnptives
Dr. woodward is a little skeIGcal, be-
cause the medical profession has so little
to offer in the way Of treatment There
is no specific cure for tuberculosis, he
said, in the sense that there is Of small
pox or of most other diseases The most
that could be accomplished, in his view,
would be fresh and free air and the build
ing up of the system to throw of the dis
ease, and to do that he thinks ii would be
unsatisfactory to shut conSumpJives up in
hospitals when they should be performing
light work in the open air and in getting
the most possible out of the activities of
life. He said that the facts which pre-
sent themselves do not offer any induce
ments fer the founding Of hospitals for
consumptives when a trip to the high
mountains or to some region of a dry at
mosphere is better than any treatment
the medical man has to prescribe.
It is a well-known fact that bovine ami
mails are susceptible to this disease. and
it is believed by many that the milk of
tuberculosis cows is the chief vehicle by
which the germs are conveyed to the hui
man system. Those who hold to this opin-
ion incline to the belief that consumption
is not an infectious disease in the ordi-
nary aceeptation of that term, but that it
is acquired through the milk cup or
through the taking of food in which this
germ exists Doubt is even expressed as
to the hereditary tendency Of the ailment,
any further than that the child of con-
sumptive parents may be naturally weak
and unable to Withstand the disease so
well as another with more rugged con-
stitution.
Those holding this theory regard tuher-
cu1osis as Dreventable disease. and
they assert that by proper attention to
the cow-herds which furnish the milk
supply Of cities the disease may prac-
tically exterminated These msn advo-
cate rigid inspection OF the cows at fre-
quent intervals, as well as the subsection
of the milk to constant microseopieal
tests to ascertain It's freedom from bacil-
lus tuberculosis 1t is claimed that by sub
hitting cow-heris to tests perfectly we'll
understood by scientific men, and by scru-
tinizing the milk, not only the infected