The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-06-07
LAYMEN AND DOCTORS
 FORM BATTLES PHALANX 4,
 AGAINST TUBERCULOSIS

II | enactment of certain sanitary laws Tn 1 reference to tuberculosis had caused a | forty per cent. reduction in the death ! rate from the disease in that great city. The president then called on Col .. Sam Will John of Birmingham. | Colonel John said that what he knew of tuberculosis he had learned by sec l ing loved ones taken away by the dis ease and he was in favor of anything that would cause it's abatement. l He said that it was the duty of the l doctors to lead and that the laymen would follow. He scoffed at the sug- gestion that the people of Alabama | could not do as much as any State tow ard the suppression of the disease. He said that Alabama did not have to I depend on any outside aid to supply | her with material or foodstuffs and | what Alabama wanted to do she could do. The State Medical Association had proved its power by doing away with quack practice in Alabama and Ala bama now enjoys a standard of medi- cal men that few State possess. He said that if the organization was i'm augurated with the proper zeal the people would begin to reap the benefits in January, 1907. when the legislature convened.
 Editor Smiths Address. Eli P. Smith, associate editor of The Birmingham News, was called on. Mir Smith was a consumptive who by practical means. effected a permanent cure His paper before the Alabama Medical Association on tuberculosis was one of the main causes leading | to the conference last night. He was loudly applauded on taking the ros- I trum.
 | After few preliminary statements MT. Smith said in part:
 'The secret of the fight against tu- berculosis, in my humble opinion. lies in educating the lay mind to two inn I portant facts, namely: That the dis ease can be caught and having been cuaght can be cured, provided an early campaign against it is begun. In the same connection it Is equally as i'm portant to teach our fellow citizens that undue delay in combating the disease means death.
 l Lack of knowledge of these facts | has perhaps been responsible for ma jojrity of the deaths which have oc- cured from consumption in the past. Admitting these statements to be axioms-self-evide truths-it would seem clear that publicity points to the road for relief.
 We must educate the masses of the people in Alabama, first as to the ! methods Wn1cn they odOPN " prevent the spread of tuberculosis and | second. with reference to the pursu- ance of the open air, diet and rest | treatment for its cure. We must teach ) them that the germ of tuberculosis is spread through carelessness of con sumptives in depositing their sputun1 1 and we must learn all such persons that when they exercise this careless i ness they fmperil the lives of many ! ffNtn nd lconsumption We must likewise Inn press them with the fact that rooms | in which consumptive patients have lived or died should be disinfected be- fore being used by non-consumptives I They should be made to understand l that the rubercular germ Is dangerous and vicious creature and that every
 precautionary method should be adopt
 ed to prevent it's propagation. Treatment of Disease. 1 .'In the treatment of the disease, the 1 fact should be taught that because a
 person afflicted with 1t has not the l means to go to Colorado or some other dry climate with a high altitude, he need not die. He can be cured right here in Alabama by strenuous applica- l tion of natures remedies. This class | of persons should be brought to under stand that the elements to effect the | beginning is made; that an abundance
 of fresh air. day and night. wholesome and nourishing food and absolute rest
 of body and mind constitute the factors
 necessary to a cure
 But hcw is all this information--
 this opening of the door of nope to
 thouSands of consumptives who have
 either abandoned hope or are almost 1 ready to do soto be communicated to l In tD attract
 their attention and impress them with
 its importance and reliability. My au-
 swer Is through publicity. A commis- | sion especially charged with the dis semination of such information. even | if it did nothing else would be of vast | value Information of this ch1r1cte CT
 could be compiled in short tracts,
 worded in comprehensive language.
 each tract or slip dealing with d par
 ticular feature of the disease and the l cure for it., and these tracts could be
 reproduced in the various weekly
 newspapers of the State from time to
 time; they could be distributed
 through County boards of health; they
 could be handed to the poor through
 the medium of the charitable orgari-
 cations of the several communities and
 they could be posted in conspicuous
 places for the perusal of the uasser-
 by.
 But an anti-tuberculosis commis-
 sion could do more than this. # could
 suggest to municipalities and school
 authorities the importance of enforc- 1 ing anticipating laws. regulations for i the proper ventilation of school houses
 and other public buildings and 1t could
 by persistent effort and agitation con-
 stantly keep the entire subject Tn the
 public eye and within sight If the popular gaze.
 My experience is that the public. IS
 a whole, Is densely ignorant on the l question of tuberculosis. It needs ed-
 ucation. It must be a popular and not
 a technical education in order to rem | der 1t attractive, and thereby make t | effective. To this end the layman and
 the doctor should cooperate.
 Dr. Mangum of EufauIa.
 Dr. Mangum of Eufaua followed Mir. Smith. He said that the medical men
 recognized that their progress has been slow | in discovering a cure for consumption, but
 they are now directing every effort to find preventive methods, Municipal laws now
 in operation against reckless splitting and SC
 forth are ineffective on account of lack oi 1 sympathy of the people. It is not easy
 to effect radical change. but on the minds
 of the young the following rules should he l impressed: Every one should have a maxi
 mum of sunlight and fresh air. Consump-
 tives should have an early diagnosis and
 should regard the advice of physicians No
 tification should be made to the health
 boards. Sanitariums for those unable tc
 enter private sanitariums should be estab-
 lished. Preventives against consumption
 should be constantly kept before the pub l lie eye. Frequent tuberculosis conference.
 should be had by medical men and theil
 research into the disease should continue l further.
 Dr. c A. stakely pastor of the Firs | Baptist Church of Montgomery, said tha
 his religion put him in sympathy with thu 1 rrnrr nd fhaA thn I.nrd after hna Iln- Ah.