The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-03-22

s.n.. AL 20. -
WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
BY CLIFTON HARDY LEVY.
What il consumption?
Why, with all the facilities ct the corn
mand Of science. has It not been cured in
stead of killing its hundreds of thousand;
every Year,
Ali the wars In the world have not slair
nearly so many as die within ten years oil
this dread disease.
No one knows when he or some one neal
and dear will be stricken.
We are standing on the edge Of the prec.
ipice and know not when we may be cas-,
headlong over 1t.
Why have not the thousands of scientists
scattered the world over been able to stamp
II out?
It is time that We had q review Of the
attempts which have been made. . sum-
ming up of all the "cures" which have been
suggested, and Of ell the failures which
have followed.
Possibly some one working in the labora-
tory OF the new Rockefeller Institute for
scientific research, OF some praoticing ply
sioian or physicians. will find In this chron-
!cle of effort and failure the golden clew
which Will help to solve this insistent prob
lem
Or possibly there will be no one way. but
many ways will have to b adopted before
science can say that Il has robbed human
existence on earth Of one Of it, most IN
norable foes
since the discovery Of the bacillus by
been to discover some agent that will de-
stroy the bacillus In the lun8s OF man.
Koch himself thought he had found q
serum which would render the patient i'm
mune from the attack Of the bacillus in his
tuberculin, but he has himself bsen COM
A. dsrts tA o. ttYr~ 20 he ,txar
culin, save for purposes Of diagnosis.
This serum did not do the work 80 well As
VACCINE does for smallpox. It was neither
a preventive nor . cure. There was still
the hacking cough, the consuming fever and
the ever-increaang cavities in the lungs.
The patient grew weaker and weaker, and
at last died.
Tuberculin was failure, although It was
supposed to cure. and ut first It was thought
that 1t would cure all consumption at any
stage.
BACILLUS NOT CAUSE
OF DISEASE.
There is largely increasing number Of
physicians who hold that the bacillus is
not the cause OF the disease. but Is a Sc
quence of the condition of the patient. They
point to the indubitable fact that the tuber-
cular bacillus can be found at almost any
time, even In the lungs OF the perfectly
healthy individual, and. AZ the germ Is SO
versal in the temperate zone, there must be
some other cause to account for its power
over some persons and the immunity of
others exposed to the same germ.
The chief cause. then. for consumption,
according to tho best authority. must be
something outside of the bacillus, il this
be only the secondary cause.
The chief causes assigned by the leading
physicians are foul air overcrowding, lack
of sunshine and dampness.
Yet the actual cause back OF all these is
che lowering OF the system OF the patient
through unsanitary environments 1t is true
that one person may kiss another with con-
sumption and contract the disease, vet there
are hundreds Of doctors and nurses who
have been around consumptive patients for
months and years at time and yet failed
to fall victims to the plague.
The chief effort OF the best physicians to-
day is in the line OF prevention OF the
spread of the disease. and this prevention
10 based upon the knowledge Of the bacillus
itself as studied by psychologists.
Since Koch found the bacillus in q little
red-shaped organism about one-half the size
OF red blood corpuscle 1t has been ascer~
tained by studying this bacillus outside Or
the body exactly under what conditions 1t
thrives or is killed.
Warmth and liquid environment con-
duce to its growth. az best shown in warm
blooded animals. but exposure to sunlight
Is one Of the best ways Of killing the germ.
II exposed to the light for only a few min
utes Its virulence Is modified and growth
stopped. and in the course of few hours
the bacillus Is absolutely killed.
In fact, when dry the bacillus does not
increase. 1t Is only when this dry bacillus
reaches the warm blood of the living ami
NAL that 1t develops and fnultiplies.
DRY sPUTUM MAY
RETAIN ITS POWER.
The dry sputum may retain It's power Of
infection for months especially in dark
rooms to which the sunlight never pene-
trstes. but the sun is It's CHIEF enemy.
When we come to cures for consumption
the ..st is tremendously prolonged. Al
though Koch's tuberculin has proved a fail
ure as a cure for the disease, his discovery
OF the bacillus and suggestion Of tuberculin
have led to many efforts along the same
line.
The United States Government, in It's b.
ochemic laboratory at Washington, has
been investigating and experimenting with
an anti-tubercie serum for some ten years
past.
Doctor schweinitz asserts that he has
produced immunity in q few cases and
markedly prolonged the lives Of others by
the use Of this serum, but physicians are
slow TO admit its effectiveness even In In.
cipient cases.
1t seems to retard the progress Of the dis
ease, decrease tins temperature Of the fever
and somewhat incfease the strength Of the
patients. and In some cases has proved
q cure
But In the third stage Of consumption It
10 stamped az absolutely useless. Observa-
tien has shown that certain pursuits which
operate upon the air passages have q ten
dsncy to Increase the liability to consump-
tion.