Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1904-05-11
TENT LIFE /
AND CLIMATE
Notable Cures Effected at the
Government Sanitsrium at
Fort Stanton.
OFFICIAL TESTIMONY
Interesting Statements III Chief
Surgeon CarringtQn, Who
Healed y felf

New Mexico climate for the cure Of
tuberculosis Is doubtlcssly enhanced
BY the fact thar ] myself have been
cured during my tour Of duty at Fort
Stanton; and that without the use of
Cther remedies than ample food and
outdoor llfe." said Dir. Paul M. Car,
rington, surgeon in charge OF Fort
Stanton, Lincoln county. This state
ment Is taken from a papcr by DIR.
Darlington upon, Further Obseryia-
tions Of the Treatment OF Tubercu-
losis at Fort Stanton. New Mexico
and reprinted from the journal OF the
Association of Military Surgeons Of
the United States. 4 personally
know a number Of persons now n.
gagged In various pursuits In this To-
cality who ten, fifteen or twenty years
ago came to this section suffering
from tuberculosis, some Of them SO
feeble that they had 10 be carried on
s%tretchers. These persons are now,
but for scar tissues In their lungs,
In perfect health. These cases are 50
numerous and so we'll authenticated
as 70 leave no doubt In my mind Of the
value Of this climate Ia the treatment
Of tuberculosis.
He warns against ths TEND ency to
leave New Mexico too non He says:
"There continues to b j difficulty in
retaining patients under treatment for
a sufficient length Of time, and dur
Ing the year ] have seen case after
case leave tne sanitarium In a condi.
ton Just short Of complete recovery.
When advised TO remain. these pa.
tients say. Why, | feel as well as |
ever did IN my life, and they cannot
BE- made to understand that 1t is not
: matter purely Of sensation
DR.. Darlington Is an advocate of tent
HE. He says. Il have been q persist.
ent advocate Of the tent as a dwelling
for consumptiyes since early In my
tour Of duty at Fort Stanton. found
considerable nnwillingness 10 try the
experiment al first, and began with
two or three tents pitched among the
trees surrounding the old army hospi,
tai. but the tent idea Increased In
popularity BY patients being impressed
by the degree Of Improvement made
by the pioneers and now | have more
than thirty tents III use, quartering
more Than nifty patients | am putting
up the ordinary tents which ! have,
with elevated flies 10 as to obtain
rigid ventilation Some Of the tents
are ventilated by fore and aft win
dows, MY tents are an foored, sided
and provided with smail sheet iron
stoves, and notwithstanding the fact
that We have experienced during The
past winter the lowest temperature
Two degrees above zero. which has
been known In this region for many
years. I have had every tent occu
pied during the entire winter In the
past eighteen months more than iof
cases have been quariered in tents
and almost without exception these
eases have shown decided improve
ment. and some OF them have beer
discharged as recovered. Cases In
all stages have been qu,srtered III
tents, and only in q few instances
has Il been found necessary 10 re
move a patient from the tents int
the buildings
DIR. Darlington also pointed out tn,
necessity OF sending consumptiyes Il
New Mexico In the first stage Of III,
disease. He shows that OF those adj
mitted 10 the Fort stanton sanitariun
In the first stage, thirty nine in all
only n has died and he succumbet
70 softening III the brain Only ~.
Of those cases We're discharged unIm
proved while the remainder wer,
either discharged cured, improved. j
are stili under treatment. being o.
the road 10 recovery. By far III,
largest number Of cases admitted ar,
in the second or third stage, and YET
out of 40 patients ytreated. onl,
oighty-nine died. Of whom thirty sever
came 90 late thai they had not beer
under treatment an entire month
Twenty o. these az were discharge,
nnimproyed tGl were discharged a
improved. fifty.two were cured AMI
las are still under treatment. d
the cases who died, The disease wa
involved with complications. twenty
eight Of them. for Instance. hayinl
syphilis, eleven organic heart dis
ease. %nephritis, seventeen laryn