The Republican., 1900-08-02
CURES FOR CONSUMPTION.
Disease Discussed at Naples
Medical Congress.

gard TO consumption were made at
the medical congress which met the
other day at Naples. The physicians
were unanimously of opinion that the
various governments ought to take
some steps to ward off the evil says
the New York Herald, and DR.. CALI
vokos, of Athens, even maintained
that no one should be employed in a
public or private capacity who was
not absolutely free from the disease,
and that any persons who are now
employed and who have in their sys-
TENS the germs of consumption
should at once be dismissed. The ex-
act physical condition of each en-
ploye, he pointed out, could be read
lily ascertained by making a thor
ough medical examination, which
should be compulsory.
Dr. Aussel, of Lille, said that it
would be well if every house owner
were obliged, before he rented his
property, to make a full statement,
not only in regard to its sanitary con-
dition, but also in regard to all cases
of infectious diseases which may have
occurred in it as well as the number
of times that it was necessary to dis
infect it. He also maintained that
the laws of hygiene should be clearly
taught both to children and to SOL
diers.
Attention was then called to the
fact that in several government Off
ces in Italy consumptive employees are
now assigned to work which does not
bring them into contact with the pub
lie, and that the women employed in
the national cigar factories are now
regularly examined by government
physicians, with the result that those
among them who are found to be con-
sumptives are discharged, but receive
a small pension for life. The question
of contagion on railroad carriages
was also discussed, and DR.. Sanareli
said that the evil would doubtless be
much lessened if the companies would
only substitute linoleum for the Gus
tomary carpets in the carriages, and
if. instead of the velvet and other
heavy stuffs on the seats and cush-
ions, they would use some light ma
terial, which could be easily washed.
At present, he pointed out, tuber-
culosis is not officially classified
among the infectious diseases, and,
therefore, railroad companies are not
bound to disinfect the carriages in
which consumptives have Travelled.
In any case. on account of the tapes
try. curtains, velvet and decorations
of such carriages, it would be very
difficult to disinfect them thorough
ly. Finally, DR.. Saranelli maintained
that on every railroad there should
be special carriages for consumptives,
but he did not explain how consump-
tive passengers could be cajoled or
coerced into occupying these car
riages during their journeys. That
they would occupy them of their own
volition, and thus publicly exploit
themselves as the victims of a con-
tagious disease, is not likely.
The Influence of Climate on the
Evolution of Consumption" was the
title of paper by DR.. Sannelongue,
in which he described a curious eX-
pertinent recently made by him. Sc
lecting $50 healthy guinea pigs, he
inoculated them on the same day with
the culture of Koch's bacillus of con-
sumption, and then he divided them
into three equal lots, one of which
he sent to the seacoast. another to the
mountainous region of Haute-Loire,
while the third lot he placed in the
cellar of his laboratory. In due time
he examined the animals and found
that those which he had placed in the
cellar were the strongest and health
lest. He accounts for this strange re-
suit on the ground that there was an
equal temperature in the cellar. He
adds, however, that what may benefit
guinea pigs may prove prejudicial to
human beings, and thus tacitly adj
mits that the air of the seashore or
mountains is likely to prove more
beneficial to consumptives than that
| of cellar.