Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-28
CLIMATE AND CONSUMPTION
Dr.. R. 0. Mere stiu Up Debate by his
Announced Conclusions.
CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO ITS CURE
Statistics show the in
Massachusetts Produces the
same Results rs that
in New Mexico.

That location with regard to climatic
conditions is not arbitrarily essential in
the establishment Of a sanatorium for the
treatment Of those suffering from con-
sumption is a contention which DIT. r. O.
Moore Of this city advanced recently in a
paper before the Missouri Valley Medical
association. and thereby has provoked con-
troveTsy in medical circles throughout the
entire country.
The argument referred to was one Of the
features Of DR.. Moore's presidential ad-
dress, delivered before the recent con-
vention Of the association, held at Sioux
City. Ia, the title of bis paper being:
The sanatorium for the Treatment OF
Pulmonary tuberculosis" The Doctors
Views on the particular point as explained
by him are by no means so radical as
those imputed to him in some Of the pub
lished comments upon his paper. and while
he does not argue that climate is Of no
consequence in the treatment Of con-
sumption, he does contend that 1t is but
a subordinate consideration that can be
compensated by other conditions and any
unfavorable element supplied artihcially.
DR.. MOore's idea
This statement was part Of a plea for
state sanatoriums for the treatment Of
pulmonary tuberculosis and in reviewing
his subject in a general way the doctor
said
my idea is that every state should have
its own institution for the treatment of
consumption and treat It's patients at home
rather than send them away to the So
called health resorts, where those afflicted
with that disease congregate and where
they cannot but be discouraged by the pres
anna ~ an manv o4hars similarly affected I
argue that It is not necessary that those in
stitutions should be established In the
climates which are believed to be bene-
fetal to those an1icted with consumption and
that any state may successfully conduct its
own sanatorium. / know that among the
lRity there is a Arm and widespread belief
In the efficacy of climate In the cure OF con-
sumption, but that does not pertain among
physicians. for we know that the necessary
treatment can be effected under any
climatic conditions. In support Of that idea
/ quoted statistics from the sanatorium
supported by the state OF Massachusetts,
which is supposed to have the most I'M
favorable climate in the United States, and
from the institution maintained by the
United States government in New Mexico,
where the climate Is supposed 20 be most
beneficial to c~onsumptive patients. These
statistics showed that the results were
about the same at both places. 1 selected
those two institutions for the reason that
there was no chance for the reports to be
affected by any person particularly inter-
ested in the climate. This idea Of the
efficacy OF climate is largely promoted by
doctors and others who have a proprietary
interest in some particular health resort.
l do not believe that aridity, humidity or
altitude make a great deal of difference. It
is essential that a consumptive patient
should be out Of doors as much as possible
and eat all that he can. and Of course there
are places where the out-of-door life is
more conveniently possible than 1t is in
others. That is where the question OF
climate comes In"
Comments of an Eastern Paper.
Editorially commenting on DR.. Moores
paper. the Philadelphia Inquirer says:
Pulmonary consumption is one Of the
many subjects upon which, within a COM
paratively few years, the public has been
called upon to make an almost complete
revision of its opinions. Nearly every one
was taught to think scarcely more than a
decade ago that this disease was Inherited,
that IL was non-contagtous and non-com-
municable and that II could In no case be
cured: that the best to be done under the
most favorable conditions was to prolong
the patients life and to alleviate his suf-
ferings. Now we are told that every one
Of those propositions Is erroneous. Ac-
cording to the accepted doctrine of the
medical science Of today, OF
the lungs is not inherited, Is not %incurable
and is contagious, and this doctrine, while