The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-08-11
'SCOURGE OF MANKIND
WORLD TRYING TO STAMP OUT
 CoNSUMPTIoN.
Some of the Modes of Treatment Which Have Been Tried-open Air and Sunshine the
 Best of All.

has been revived by the recent congress of tuberculosis. just closed in London. whose object was the discussion of some adequate means of defense against the dread disease as well as the various methods proposed for its cure All over the world a concerted endeavor S being made to stamp out the scourge of consumption.
 It is not without reason that this dis ease has been named the White Plague" It is q plague in the truest sense of the word and no country on the face of the earth is immune from its ravages. How many families are there who have not suffered from its in roads? There is hardly a person in the United States who can look back more than one generation without re- calling some member of their family who has suffered or died from con- sumption. Statistics show that more people die from consumption every year in the United States than from any other disease. The actual death roll fer 1900 was over 1eo,oee, which means that the deaths resulting from tuberculosis were more than those re- sufting from any three of the other disease to which mankind is subjct
 According to statistics which show the approximate ratio of the various disease, it Is found that out of total of 10000 deaths, consumption causes HOO in England, 1,120 in France, l,2T0 in Germany, 969 in Russia, 300 in Italy, 1.110 in Switzerland, 1920 in Belgium, $50 in the Netherlands and 1.o2o in Scandinavia. ..-' -~-,
 The most prolific cause of contagion is now believed to be indiscriminate ex- pestGra tion by consumptivee, and most medical authorizes agree that when law forbtdding approximation in the streets is enforced, then, and then only, will the spread of the disease be check ed. During the recent congress the suggestion was made that hospitals and dispensaries should give every outdoor patient suffering from phthisis leat1et containing instructions in regard to the preevnttOn of consumption and should insist the use of such appliances as protect the public from infection. It was also decided that the establish ment of Sanitoria was an absolute necessity if the diminution of tubercu- losis was to be eeffcted. and that health officers should be forced to use the powers at their disposal and make every effort to prevent the spread of the disease by impure milk and tuber- culosis meat. Overcrowding of the working classes helps propagate con- sumption and retards cure, 1t is said, and experiments are being made to de- termine the minimum amount of air space per capita necessary to health ful life. ..-.. ,.....-s.,,... .....
 There has been much discussEon dur ing the congress as to whether milk does or does not cause tuberculosis in human beings. Professor Koch came boldly out with the statement that it was impossible foF mankind to contract consumption from cows. either through germs in milk or by eating the meat of tuberculosis cattle, advancing as his reasen the fact that the disease in cattle and in human beings was radi- cslly different. Professor Koch is the scientist who first told the world of the consumption bacillus. who taught the means of distinguishing the deadly bacillus in animals and in man. His revelation led to the present stringent laws for the prevention of the Spnead of the disease and resulted in the con, dempation of hundreds and thousands of animals for fear of the spread Of the disease from them to man, and his opipiop, therefore. carries great weight with physicians.
 For many years scientists have been searching for an absolute cure for the disease. There are many methods of treatment that cure 0 percentage of the cases submitted, but there is so far not one which will cure all. Nor Is the reason for this far to seek. Con- sumption is a disease which actually destroys the lung tissue and when a patient reaches that stage and the lungs are gone, there is 10 power on earth that can make new lungs for him. However. doctors have been en- couraged to keep on seeking a cure for the disease because of the well known fact that almost every subject on whom an autopsy is performed bears the mark of having had consumption at some period of his life time and 1t can be seen that the lesiops caused by the disease healed of their own accord. This fact. alone. is accepted as proof that consumption is curable, and doctors argue that if nature can cure the disease, science, also, ought to be able to do so.
 One of the most interesting methods used in attempting to cure consump- tion Is known as the Francisque Cfotte cure for consumption. It is not only new, but in a sense revolutionary, for 1t utilizes a hitherto ususpected force in electricity and. by means of that force secures for a curative agent en- trance to a cavity of the body hitherto sealed to medicaments. A powerful germ killing drug Is placed on the patients chest and, by the power of electricity is driven through the skin. flesh and bone of the chest walls and so into the diseased structure of the lungs. This new force of electricity may prove to be as valuable to the physicians as the X-ray has been to the surgeon. for it Is claimed that wherever a current of electricity can be passed it can be made to carry a drug.
 Another novel agent utilized for the cure of consumption is the electric searchlight. Strong sunlight, after be- ing rendered more powerful and intense by the use of lenses. is used in the cure of some cases. but for more ad- vanced and difficult cases a. big search light, giving an initial illumination of 5o, 900 candle power is employed. A curved mirror is used to concentrate the rays, which are frequently so in tense that screen of some heat-ab- sorbing medium has to be interposed to cool them and prevent the scorching of the patients skin. The inventor of this method of treatment is Dr. J. Mount Bieyer of New York.
 There are two ways of applying this treatment. In cases where the whole or greater part of the lungs is involved the patient is bared to the waist and then placed Tn a chair facing the big seanchlight Darkened glasses are used to protect the eys from the light,