The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-08-26

In this manner a complete circle. So
called cirCulus vitiosus, has been form
cd for the process Of infection from the
diseased lung, which produces phclgm
and pus containing tuberclc bacilli, to
the formation Of moist and dry parti-
cles (Which I'm virtue Of their smallness
can keep floating a good while in the
lair). and finally to new infection IL par
ticles penetrate with the air into a
healthy lung and originate the disease
anew. But the tubercle bacilli may get
to other organs of the body i'm the same
way and thus originate other forms Of
tuberculosis This. however. is a con-
siderably rarer case. The sputum OF
consumptive people, then, is to be re-
garded as the main source of the in
lection of tuberculosis. on this point
l suppose, all are agreed"
The picture which DR.. Koch gives Of
the dwellings of the poor at night, is
worthy of consideration. 1t must be
known to any one who has had coca
sion to pass the night i'm poorer Ha-
waiian houses, that though there is the
ample air of heaven outside, the Hawai-
ian is crowded as to his sleeping apart
ment, four, six and eight sometimes
occupying the same room, and the
apartment being closed up so that no
! draught may disturb the sleepers.
Could anything tend to the spread of
! tuberculosis more readily than this, and
is it any wonder that it continues to be
the most fatal disease on our mortality
lists
This is DIR. Koch's description of how
tuberculosis is spread in Germany:
Let us picture the condition of a
poor consumptive patients dwelling at
night. The whole family sleep crowded
| together in one small room. However
cautious he may be the sufferer scat
ters the morbid matter secreted by his
diseased lungs every time he coughs
and his relatives close beside him must
inhale this poison. Thus whole fami-
lies are infected. They die out and
awaken in the minds of those who do
not know the infectiousness of tuber-
culosis the opinion that 1t is hereditary
whereas it's transmission in the cases
in question was due solely to the sim
| plest processes of infection, which do
not strike people so much because the
consequences do not appear at once. but
generally only after the lapse of years.
Often under such circumstances the in
lection is not restricted to a single fam
lily, but spreads in densely inhabited
tenement house to the neighbors, and
then, as the admirable Investigations of
Biggs have shown in the case of the
densely peopled parts of New York,
regular nests of foci of disease are
formed. But if one INVESTIGATES these
matters more thoroughly one finds that
it is not poverty per Sc that favors
tuberculosis. but the bad domestic con-
ditions under which the poor every
where, but especially in great cities,
have to live. For, as the German sta
tistics show, tuberculosis is less fire.
quent, even among the poor, when the
population is not densely packed to-
gether, and may attain Vlry great
| dimensions among a well-to-do popula-
ton when the domestic conditions, es-
| pecially as regards the bedrooms are
bad as is the case, for instance. among
the inhabitants of the North Sea coast.
So it is the overcrowded dwellings, of
the poor that We have to regard as the
real breeding places of tuberculosis; it
is out of them that the disease always
crops up anew, and it is to the aboli-
| ton of these conditions that we must
first and foremost direct our attention
if we wish to attack the evil ar it's root
and to wage war against it with effec-
| tive weapons"
But great as is the evil, it can be
overcome. Professor Koch concluded
| his address as follows:
"All that is necessary is to go on
! developing the present beginnings, to
| test and, if possible, to increase their
influence on the diminutiOn of tubercu-
losis, and wherever anything useful has
yet been done to do likewise. If we
allow ourselves to be continually guild
ed in this enterprise by the spirit of
genuine preventive medical science, if
we utilize the experience gained in con-
tlict with other pestilenceT and aim,
with clear recognition of the purpose
and resolute avoidance of wrong roads,
at striking the evil at it's root, then the
battle against tuberculosis, which has
been so theoretically begun cannot fail
to have a victorious issue"
Our own Board of Health is awake
to the dangers of tuberculosis and is
working upon the lines laid down by
may laugh at suggestions, but we will
not laugh if we find our nearest and |
dearest attacked by the disease. Chole-
ra and plague are innocent diseases |
alongside of tuberculosis. and the only |
thing to do is to take up the fight on |
scientific lines and fairly kill out the |
foe. 1t can be done and it ought to be |
done.
The volcano seems to be boiling up