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

moment played to a certain extent
paramount part In all efforts t0I the
combating OF tuberculosis, worked IN
quite another direction. He meant tho
founding Of sanatOria for cOnslmpdras.
That tuberculosis was durable in fits early
stages must be regarded as an ullIs-
puted fact. The idea of curing as many
IuDefcLlaf patients as possible In order 10
reduce the number Of those that reached
the infectious stage of consumption and
thus TO reduce the number of fresh cases.
was therefore a very natural one. The
only GGeSuOn was whether The nGu.rr
of persons cured in this way would be
great enough to exercise an dpprCciabls
influence on the retrogressiOu of tuber-
culGSls. He would try to answer this
question In the light of the figures at his
disposal According to the business re-
port of the German central committee
for the establishment of sanatoria for the
cure Of conslmptiVos, ABOUT a.5uJ bel5
would be at the disposal of these institr-
lions by the end. of 1901 and then If we
assumed that the average stay of each
patient would be three months it would
be possible to treat at least 20 $50 patients
every year. From the reports hitherto Is
sued as to the results That had been
achieved in the establishments, we learn
eQ further that about - per cent of tho
patients that had tubeTclc blciIli I'm their
Sputum lost them by the treatment there
This was the only sure test Of success,
especially as regards prophyiaNis If we
made THIS the basis OfyOur estimates W8
found that 1900 cOnSumptiVes would leave
tbeie establishments annually as cured.
But, according to the statistics ascertain
ed by the German imperial Office Of
health there were 100000 persons I'm Ger
many over fifteen years of age who were
so far gone In consumption that hospital
treatment was necessary for them. Com
pared with the great number Of con-
sumptives, the success of the establish
mentS in question seemed so smal tu4t
material influence on the retrOgrcssiOu Of
tuberculosis I'm general was not yet to-
Va II "a rrHH
not imagine that he wished by that
calculation Of his to oppose the
movement for the establishment OF
such sauitoria in any way. He
estimating OF their Importance which had
recently been observable I'm various quar-
terS, based apparently on she opinion that
the war against tuberculosis could ba
waged by means Of sanatoria alone and
that other measures were Of subordinate
value In reality the contrary was the
case.
What was to be achieved by the gen
eral prophylaXis resulting from recogni-
ton of the danger Of infection and the
consequent greater caution in inter
course with consumptives was shown by
a calculation of. COTnet regarding the de-
crease Of mortality from tuberculosis I'm
Prussia in the years 1889 to 1887 Before
1889 the average was 81 A per 10000, where
as in the period named it sank to 21.8-
which meant that In that short space OF
time the number of deaths from tubcr-
culosis was $4,000 less than was to be
expected from the average Of the preced-
ing years. The sanatoria would never
render the other measures he had men
tened superfluOus. If their number be-
came great, however, and If they per-
formed their functions properly, they
might materially aid the strictly sanitary
measures in the conflict with tuberculosis 8.
II now, in conclusion, they glanced
back once more to what had been done
hitherto for the combating Of tubercu-
losts, and forward TO what had st.lI to
be done, they were at liberty to declare
with a certain satisfaction that very
promising beginnings had already been
made. Among those he reckOned the con-
Sumption hospitals of England, the legal
regulations regarding notification I'm Nor
way and SaXony, the organization Gre
ated by Biggs in New York, the saua-
tOria and the instruction Of the people
All that was necessary was to go on de
veloping those beginnings, TO test and,
If possible, to Increase their influence on
the diminution Of tuberculosis and wher-
ever nothing had yet been done to do
likewise. IF they were continually guild
ed In this enterprise by the spirit OF
genuine preventive medical science; II
they utilized the experience gained in
conflict with other pestilences. and aim
ed, with clear recognition Of the purpose
and resolute avoidance Of wrong roads.
at striking the evil at its root. then the
battle against tuberculosis. which had
been 50 theoretically begun, could not
fail to have a victorious issue.