The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1905-02-10
Lectures by Members Of the
State Commission
ON PREVENTION AND CURE
DR.. D. D. Crout Of Waterbury and Henry
Ballard of Burlington Addressed
Good-Sized Audience
Last Evening.

Two members Of the state tuberculo-
sis commission dropped of in Barre
long enough last evening to tell five hun
dred people gathered at the opera house
something about tuberculosis, its pre-
vention and its cure. They were the
president Of the commission, Or. D. d.
Grout Of Waterbury, and the only lay
member, Henry Ballard, Burlington
lawyer. The lectures were given on in
vitation Of the city council and health
officer, at the request Of the stonecut-
ters union. The commission is going
about the state giving these lectures
wherever invited, the one the evening
previous being given at Bradford. To-
night Essex Junction viii have the bene-
that the people who attended last even
ing have d better comprehension of this
disease. Seated on the platform with
the speakers were Mayor Barclay and
Health Officer Or. Joe w. Jackson, the
latter Of whom introduced the speak
ers.
Mfr. Ballard spoke as a living exam
ple- Of what can be done to cure tuber-
culosis, or pulmonary consumption, and
he told the story Of his fight for life
after being given up by physicians, in
most interesting manner, at the same
time giving evidence Of his vitality with
frequent tappings on his chest, and other
muscular movements. So closely inter-
ested was the audience that the speaker
was frequently interrupted with APP
plause. In opening he quoted from Ben
Franklin that Public health is public
wealth. Mr. Ballard said that he was
born Of consumptiye family. He didn't
inherit the disease, because ii cannot be
inherited. He was born with the ten
denotes, which mainly consist Of weak
lungs His father died of consumption
before the age of thirty; his fathers
father had died Of the same disease.
Two meles and two alnts succumbed
To the same cause. His brother, two
years older, and more robust than the
speaker, was also q victim. While final
II the speaker himself was marked as
victim with the most patent signs
that could be made. Yet he conquered.
Taken with consumption when youth
in college, he began course Of self
treatment. His cure was giving his
lungs all the air they needed pure air
and plenty OF it all the time. He went
through a year and half Of the Civil
War with no trouble from his lungs,
and went back to his law practice in
Burlington. He had no recurrence of
the trouble until g years ago, when he
suffered d severe hemorrhage.
Then he went to Colorado, and there
was able TO build up his system so that
he removed the traces of the disease,
aud the speaker told Of his victory with
pride. lie told how he did it after the
doctors had given him two years as
the extreme limit of life. Air, air, air,
and more air, is the remedy, declared
Mr.. Bullard. And breathe through the
the nostrils, not the mouth, be added, as
he explained how the fine hairs In the
nose prevent the passage Of the parti-
cles of dust to the lungs. 1t will be
good for you granite cutters. You, who
work about the dust, close your mouths.
Granite dust Is fine, but magniiied q
thousand times you can see the hard
particles, with the rough corners, which
irritate the lung tissue The sleeping
rooms should be large; the windows
should be allowed to remain open. Use
no drugs, no medicines, no aleohols at
all. Both speakers emphasized the harm
which spirits do.
In closing Mr.. Ballard spoke briefly
of the work Of the commission, saying
that they hope next session Of the legis-
Iature to get an appropriation for 4
state sanitarium, and urged the people
of Barre to send Il man to the legisla-
ture who will vote for the measure.
Evidently his hearers were with him on
that point, for they applauded him loud
III when he said it,
Dr. Grout's Speech.
Dir. Grout expressed his sorrow that
DR.. Bryant 81 the commission was un-
avoidably detained from being present,
saving that he had something TO say
chiefly on Consumption with reference
TO the granite cutting industry. Dr..
Grout took up the disease in a general
way, saying that one-half of the whole
human race are at one time or another
afflicted with the disease and that about
one. seventh die from it. Out Of the
seventy five millions Of people IN this
country about eight millions die from
consumption, and the age Of the great
est mortality is between 15 and As
years. tuberculosis may affect any
organ Of the body, but it chiefly attacks
the lungs. Germs in the pulmonary
cases are thrown of in the sputnm.
These tnbercule baoilli do not ordinarily
thrive outside the body. This sputum
dries soon, however, and the germs min-
gle with The dust, and are again breathed
ia. The breath and the moist sputum
of eonsnmptiyes are not dangerous. The
source Of the disease is from the dried
sputum,
tuberculosis is not contagious di-
sease, neither is II hereditary. The
reason that while one.half the people
become affected much smaller per