Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-12

I forum which will accommodate 400 pa
tents The first appropriation for this
work totals a quarter of Il million dollars.
Work of the Sanatoria
The winning part that these sanatorla
are taking in the fight is shown by the
records In the Massachusetts, state sana-
| toria 'serenty-three per cent of the in
cipient cases discharged in the last three
year, have had the disease arrested or APP
parently cured The most famous of the
Adirondack Sanatoria has discharged about
% per cent of it's incipient patients with
the disease arrested or apparently cured;
and in majority of the other bona fide
sanatoria equally gratifying results have
been obtained.
These statistics not only prove to the stu
dent of the tuberculosis problem that con-
sumption can be cured if treated in time
and under proper conditions. like any other
disease; they further convince that eli
mate is not essential nor even an i'm
portant factor in it's treatment. What was
once said of whisky applies to air-'some
whisky may be better than other kinds. but
no whisky is poor" Before the Sana:0r1a
proved this point incontrovertibly it was
pretty generally held that the consump-
tives only hope was to seek such dry ell
ties as are found in Colorado and some
of the other western states ami territories
Now the medical profession declares pos
itively and with unanimity thu. tnciplent
tuberculosis can be Curad 10y the outdoor
and good food treatment III almost any
given locality and climate. This is A new
found weapon that has Deal OF great Sefv-
ice In the fight.
The application of this principle outside
of sanatoria even has led 20 many well-au
thenticated cures A certain eminent ply
sician of New York city has effected "p-
parently dozen such cures within the last
four years right in the city Itself. His prac-
tce is to secure a patient some light out
door work and to make him sleep In the
open air as far conditions Will permit.
The majority of the cures have occurred
while the patients earned tlair daily bread
ticket choppers at the uptown stations
of the elevated railroads. From time to
time cases of persons VINO have themselves
arrested tuberculosis in .ncir bodies by liv-
ing out of doors and eating the proper
foods come to the notice % and are vouch-
ed for by the medical pro- ,4Si n
Dispensaries for Consumptives.
A further recognition of this principle Is
found in the dispensarias es,a ,shed for
the treatment of tubercul isis patients sole
~. The first dispensary Of this kind began
work in Lille. France. Since 1900 some
thirty similar institutions have been estab
liShed In the cities of the United states. the
ma jor portion within the pas. three years.
The method usually followed by these dis
pensaries in the treatment of patients is
representative Of the method employed all
along the line of battle. The patient IS not
merely supplied with any drug that may
be considered necessary; he Is instructed
concerning what means TO take 20 prevent
the spread of the disease. and in this m@n-
ner the public receives projection. Still
again. the patient is visited in his home by
a special visitor or a trained nurse. who
instructS him how to diSlnsect his home
properly. provides him with the proper feed
when necessary. and in other ways supplies
his material wants as the emergency of the
case demands. Many Of the dispensarios
furnish their patients with printed instruc-
lions in their respective native languages.
BY means of its dispensa-.es. its sanitary
inspection of tenements by the tenement
house department. the opa;l-air treatment
of the tuberculosis inmates of its various
Institutions, its educational measures and
the visits to consumptives il their homes.
and the work of its leading charitable or
saniZations the decrease in the death rate
from pulmonary tuberculosis In New York
city (the borOughs Of Manhattan and the
Bronx fell from 1856 per tn Jusani in 1884
to 2.46 per thousand In 1904. in considering
this decrease it must not be forgotten that
only within the last few years has New
York or any other city, for that matter,
taken any serious concerted action against
tuberculosis 1t is also Interesting to note
that the death rate for the entire country.
which was 3.3 in 1871. is now 81 per thou
sand population and here I must be borne
in mind that In many parts of the country
today no more is being done to fight the
disease than was done in the seventies.
What the Cities Are Doing.
In fifty-nine of the cities of this country
of more than 10000 inhabitants tubercu-
losis is now recognized as a communicable
disease. and in the majority steps have
been taken within recent years to combat
1t. Much of this work is OF preventive
nature. such the diSinfection of houses
and apartments in which consumptives
have lived prior TO their occupancy by new
tenants; and the health departments of at
least thirty of these cities are engaged In
distributing more or less widely circulars
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