Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-01

tent will consume when this regime Is
started. They may not take more than
three eggs a day at first. but though this
diet does not sound appetizing, 1t Is really
so when prepared by the nurses with orange
juice and ''fixings' in a dainty glass. The
ps tents rapidly become used to 1t, and
they frequently consume as many as doz-
and half eggs day.
Now as to the question of climate. 1t VIII
be remembered not many years ago. con-
sumptive patients were shut up In hot
room and not a breath of air allowed to
blow on them. Then there came reaction
in which 1t was said that the eonsumptive
should live out of doors. Climate was said
to be the main thing and many were ship
ped away from their homes to the Adiron-
acks, to Colorado, Arizona and New Mex
leo. A good many died away from home
and many more came home to die, prefer
ring death from consumption to death from
home sickness, which by the way Is a very
real disease.
Now a more rational view is taken of the
cure. It is found that, while consumption
thrives in low, damp ground, there are few
stretches along our Atlantic coast where the
climate Is now perfectly favorable to the
treatment Of the disease. New York city.
Massachusetts and Illinois do not boast
particularly equabie nor mild climates, but
all of them have thriving consumptive
homes where the sufferers are treated by
the rational outdoor method.
1t has been established indisputably that
consumption can be cured In almost any cli-
mate II taken In time. Fhe cure consists In
killing the germ and letting the lung tissue
heal up while there Is still enough of 1t to
support life Sunshine and fresh air Will
effect this cure better than anything else.
There Is no specific for the disease, but the
cure and the prevention are in reach of
everyone.
The state of Illinois Is one of the leaders
GsrAf inst W
plague The state board of health has Is
sued an instructive circular on the subject,
showing that there are more than hve times
as many deaths from consumption IN the
state in a year as from typhoid fever. Last
year there were 200 more deaths from con-
sumption than the year before, while the
typhoid fever death rate decreased by ooo:
This disparity is annually increasing, ana
vet the population almost everywhere sits
still under the incubus Of the white plague
and seems to think that nothing can De
done to stop 1t.
To refer again to Illinois, where the sta
tistics are particularly complete. there were
between seven thousand and eight thousand
deaths in the state from consumption last
year The vast majority OF these were be-
tween the ages of twenty and thirty, Just
the time. when man should be starting IN
for his best life work. The death rate from
the disease Increases rapidly from the age
of fifteen to fifty and then falls with almost
equal rapidity.
acted from the roll of the worlds great
names, to cite only few of the more prom
inent ones, have been Jean Bastine lie Page,
Rachel Sterne H. c. Bunner. Robert Louis
Stevenson. Henry Th0reau. Artemus Warde
and Baron Spinoza The list might be ex-
tended almost indefinitely.
In Washington we have consumptive
population of about 2400. The figures are
by no means complete. but there were re-
ported last year 7S0 deaths from consump
ton, and there Is population of about
three consumptiyes to each death where the
disease has been carefully studied. 1t is
true that the vast majority of these deaths
are among the poorer colored people. to
whom the disease is particularly fatal. But
1t is useless TO sit stiil and say that they are
a section of the population beyond help.
They are constant menace to the rest of
the population and spread the infection.
The censumptiye himself will not spread the
disease by personal infection like scarlet
fever or smallpox. But 1t Is the sputum of
the .consumptive in which the germ remains
alive and active under favorable conditions |
for weeks and months. This is ground up |
In the dust apd spreads fresh contagion |
when breathed by a receptive subject. How |
many of the people of Washington do their |