New-York tribune., 1902-06-04
THE GREAT WHITE PLAGUE
SO PROFESSOR KINYoUN DESCRIBES
TUBERCULOSIS.

INFERENCE OF OPINION AS TO WHETHER
DISEASE IS CONTAGIOUS OR INFECTIOUS.
Professor J J Kinyoun, of Pennsylvania, was
the first speaker at yesterday morning. SESSION
of the American Congress of Tuberculosls' III
the Hotel Majestic. He described tuperculosis
as .the great white plague" which destroyed
mere people than all the other plaques ana salo
that the warning given from the housetops oy
sbe sa-called ''cranks" that the disease was con-
tasious was being listened TO and slowly ac-
cepted The medical profession viewed with sat
isTaction the concerted action against tupercu-
losis In every civilized country.
Or H Edwin Lewis read a paper setting fortn
strongly his view that legislation against tuoer-
culosis was irrational. He said that the 1act
that nearly 95 per cent of hospital attendants
exposed to the infection of the disease failed 10
develop it showed that personal resistance was
more potent as protective force than the
tupercie bacilli were for the attack. He added:
ing and oVerworng of the masses child rae1F d aip 1
u-iIl scnonplish a hundredfold more in lowering
the death rate from tuberculosis tnan an tne ne +b
traerffery Of the law devise and enforce with
bated breath We have aeeeP3e1q1k d ike sheen have fol-
lowed every premise and dictum promg,sateoi, par
and nrScticai experience had failed TO suhstantiate
laboratory dogma such failure haq 40 nee 9een ra OBJ
server to possible error on Lhe xeiop Pi n
rnent of laboratory theories the expense OF prac
teal clinical demonstration can never rn;,,y nalI
highest scientific progress n quesuohS oohce'A AiA9
ihe public health.
The reading of this paper brought on a dls-
,,,,ss,on in which Dr. William S. MacgiI, OF the
Carnegie Laboratory in this city, spoke in 1aVor
~ laboratory discoveries. DR.. ?. J. Remoer
said:
,rs, so,a,os admits that It requires predisposi
ton TO start tuberculosis 1t is obvious then; ' &
pTedispositeR, ,na neans r dead tissue which admits
bac and actually ;as for 6aSii & wnlga ytsaSa r IS
therefore absurd to call consumption; a lurg gus ulS
ease nca The crpg fb nlei that tubercie bac
oansurnption and I'm this way disable ane ueSios I !;
hg po means scentiic truth but only cti9n
am Sa n n stress and pressed information by
their mad customers. Nature haNlng ,5 ~ of 90 ~
ing body puts bacili and consumption az WITH
the requirements of life
In the afternoon DR.. L. H Warner, or this
cit,z IN the course of his remarks. said that the
.+,,s, o4 +rherculoss is yet in its infancy. and.
sn his opirion legislation which would require
81. Isolation of consBmptives would be wrong
ne WAS also opposed to the gathering OF DIS
eased persons in a sanatoriun. and declared
that tuberculosis is not infectious or lncurapie-
Exercise nourishing diet and healthy anu
bvesenie surroundings were all that was required
90 restore sufferer TO the normal condition.
Raw food with unbroken cells, was, he sald' the
most nourishing food for a consumptiVe.
1.-The ContaEiousness Of tuberculosis as Illus
trated in One Family the subject Of
naner Inv DR.. H c. Fairbrother, Of East ST
louis He told of the deaths of the members OF
!. family Of six one after another. and added:
The report of this case is given cut for the puT-
Sf erlighIenlnE
sumed that its members are @ s,os char
acter of tubercuar consumption; but, II THIS con
e 1e fn % fSe s pabd and Tenderig aid
and municipal authorities with regdrd a. 10 & os
IN the direction % Of t the % i'm sboTs IN IN the
Niangible and effective form.
III Discussing tuberculosis and Environment, '
DR.. H. Mediation, of Macon. Ga. said, among
other things, that tuberculosis was unknown in
plantation days in the South, when the negroes
were well looked after and were not surrounded
by misery and squalor, they to-day.
Dr. Mibran X Kassabian, of Philadelphia,
spoke THE Early Diagnosis Of Pulmonary
Tuberculosis by R0ntgen Y Rays" The value
of the diagnosis by this method was, he said,
shown by the reports of clinical cases, and
every physician should have such equipment.
Concerning the treatment Of tuberculosis by
electricity DR. j. Mount Bleyer said:
hold that animal electricity not only influence.
the whole system OF nutritive operations, but also
directs them Time ana again 1 have electrified
human beings and animals and observed that under
certain conditions OF electrifcation the animals
beings threw of greater amount OF urea and
carbonic acid than under ordinary conditions. Al
this points to conclusion and the one deduction
that animal electricity comes first: that is tht
prime factor in all processes of change, Of chem
ieai action otherwise within living body
that without its stimulus polarization no chem
icai action be called into life and consequently
can 60 en-. and tissue metamOrphosis which is life
Itself, must cease.