The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-08-11

be gained if, at least in the existing hos
pitfalls, which had to admit great num-
Der Of consumptives at any rate, special
wards were established for them in
which pecuniary facilities would be Of
fered them. If only a considerable frac-
ton OF the whole number of COnSump-
tiVes were suitably lodged in this way,
ammunition of Infection and consequently
OF the sum total Of tuberculosis could
not fail to be the result. The only coun-
try that possessed considerable number
oil special hospitals for tubeTcular pa
tleats was England. and there could be
no doubt that the diminutiOn Of tUbercu-
loslS IN England, which was much great
er than In any other country, was greatly
due to this circumstance. He should
point to the founding of special hospitals
for consumptives and the better utiliza-
ton of the already existing hospitals for
the lodging of conSumptiveS as the most
important measure in the combating Of
tuberculosis, and it's execution opened a
wide field Of activity to the state, to mu-
nlclpaEtieS and to private beneVolence.
IherS were many people WaO posses ed
great wealth and would willingly give Of
their superiority for the benefit of their
poor and heavily afflicted fellow crea-
tires, but did not know how to do this
IN a Judicious manner. Here was an op-
portunlty for them to render a real and
lasting service by founding cons umptlOn
hospitals or purchasing the right to have
a certain number of conSumptive pa
tents maintained In special wards of
ever, unfortunately the aid of the state
the municipalities and rich benefactOrs
would probably not be forthcoming for a
long time yet, we must for the present re
sertato other measures that might pave
the way for the main measure just re-
ferred to and serve as a supplement and
temporary substitute for it,
NOTIFICATION AND EDUCATION.
Among such measures he regarded OBJ
Ilgatory notification as specially valuable
In the combating of all infectious diseases
1t mad proved indispensable as a means
Of obtaining certain knowledge as to
their state, especially their dissemination.
their increase and decrease. In the con-
hlct with tuberculosis also we could not
dispense with obligatory notification; we
needed 1t not only in order to inform our
selves as to the dissemination of this dis
ease but mainly in order to learn where
help and instruction could be given, and
especially where the disinfectiOn which
was so urgently necessary when con-
sCmpttves died or changed their residence
had to be effected. Fortunately It was
not at all necessary to notify all cases
OF tuberculosis, nor even all cases of con-
sumption but only those that, owing to
the domestic conditions, were sources Of
danger to the people about them. Such
limited notification had already been in
troduced in various places, in Norway,
for instance. by q special law. in Sax
cny by a ministerial decree, in New York
and In several American towns, which
itet'i 4OliOWtu us GAdIIJle. IN new YORK,
where notification was optional at first
and was afterward made obligatory it
had proved eminently useful 1t had thus
been proved that the evils which it
used to be feared the introduction of
notification for tuberculosis would bring
about need not occur, and It was de-
Voutly to be wished that the examples he
had named might very soon excite emu
Iation everywhere. There was another
measure closely connected with notidca
tion-namely, disinfection-whlch. as al
ready mentioned. must be effected when
died or changed their resi-
dence. in order that those who next &C
cupied the infected dwelling house might
De protected against infection More
over, not only the dwelling houses. but
also the infected beds and clothes Of con-
sunptives ought to be disinfected.
further measure. already recognized on
all hands as effective. was the instruct
ing OF all classes of people as to the in
fecttousness of tuberculosis, and as to
the best way Of protecting ones self. The
fact that tuberculosis had considerably
diminished in all civilized states of late
was attributable solely to the circInn-
stance that knowledge of the CONTAGIOUS
character of tuberculosis had been more
and more widely disseminated and that
caution in intercourse with consumptives
had increased more and more in conse-
QueDce.
SANATORIA.