New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-01-31
HOW TO FIGHT THE WHITE plAcrr
NAhh"1 OfPlCES TO CHECK TUBERCULOSIS md
SOME OF THE SUCCESS 4TT4JvFD

Although consl rnption Stays moro than a million
vIcIHls each year throughout tho world and in
-, . O''I as New-Hork claims in every eight
w. uie' yet scientists are fighting this disease
with greater hopes Of victory now than ever he
fore. Wherever it has been con,batad ,+L -
FORCES OF ilsht and air it has been forced 10 ra
treat In this city for example the death rate from
.uOeiou'os'S mas been reduced nearly one-half in
the last twenty years - -
At the tuberculosis Tcxros,ior to,z -. -
Baltimore many of the speakers told how the raw,
ages or consumption Worldwide No r,co -
country IS exempt Though called the White
Prague consumption works greater ,uvcc ar,o,,.
the japanese Chinese. Indians and negroes in tba
United states than in the native white nor,Ia+fior
IN most parts of the earth 1t is still tciumphant
anu Is regarded as incurable Even iii those c1un-
tries where superior human Intelligence has risen
up TO 90 IL battle 1t has been driven back rather than
defeated Despite all that New-York 20 doing 70
prevent the spread Of tuberculosis thirty thousand
OF the Inhabitants OF this city are now suffering
from this disease Eight and n half Thousand New
1orKers died from consumption last year In that
same period there were reported to the Health De-
partment more than thirteen thousand now cases
mo S0eOP expended by the municipality each
year for the care and treatment Of tuberculosis
patients Is estimated only per cent of the
actual loss to the city from this scourge It kills
or lncapacitates the young and most useful mem
bers OF society, and. according to DR.. Hermann ~
Briggs. chief bacterologst of the Health Depart
nen consumption costs the city SIS OOO 900
a year.
Fresh air is the chief enemy of tuberculosis and
combined with nourshinS diet it Will often de-
feat the disease.
Patients have frequently recovered by simply
sleeping outdoors at night In Meriden, Conn, the
good townspeople were greatly alarmed, when the
mercury recently fell to "a degrees below zero, to
learn that two women made their beds each night
on the porches Of their homes. There was many q
grayOeard who shook his head even after he heard
| that the women were seeking health from the
arctic air They learned with amazement how the
outdoor sleepers kept from freezing death: how
each wrapped herself in four five blankets, with
hot water bottles at her feet and back and a fur
cap TO cover her The nose, strange it may
SEEM needed no protection except the edge of a
blanket, which threw back a bit of the warmth Of
| the face.
Each Of the two says the fresh cold air OF
night has saved her life. Miss Alice Flint. of
! the "outdoortes," as they dubbed by a local
| newspaper, was so far gone with consumption last
July that her physician informed her relatives she
| could not live a month longer. She is vigorous
! and strong. Mrs. George A Allworth, her neigh
Dor, who also made her porch her bedroom. has
likewise recovered her strength and former weight.
! Both women now appear perfectly well.
Fresh air is the chief feature of tho treatment of
! consumption at sanatoriums nowadays. and the
! records show, according 10 DR.. s. Adophus Knopf.
that Is per cent OF the patients go homo abso-
lutey cured and 20 TO 50 per cent much improved -
a relapse is almost always due TO a return TO I'M
| sanitary conditions
As potently as fresh air destroys thu tubercular
microbe. stale air fosters its growth. The tone
| ment house which lacks light and ventilation soon