The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-05-30
CURE OF CONSERVATIVES.
Warning in Regard to Recommending
 Life in the Country.

AAAS HI tiAO
 The New York committee on the pre- vention of tuberculosis Is sending out
 word of warning to those who, at this season of the year especially, are recommending life in the country as a way in which to treat consumption.
 There are many" says the commit tee, ''who advise the country for all sorts and conditions of consumptives. Many physicians as well as charitable persons and interested friends, and nearly always the sufferers themselves, seem to consider that once the city consumptive is taken from his over crowded tenement and placed in the country the problem is solved. Often It is thereby merely made more compll- cated. On the other hand, undoubt- edly there are many consumptives who will profit greatly by carefully su- pervised residence in the country" The position Is taken that 1t is fair neither to the consumptive nor to the country districts to send away to the boarding houses persons who have ad- vanced tuberculosis and who have not been carefully trained in so caring for
 themselves that they will not infect others, or who are unwilling to take pains against injecting others. It is urged that if this form of treatment is to be permitted the consumptlve
 should be carefully taught until he has thoroughly learned at least the fact that his dry cough and his sputum contain the living germs of consump- ton which spread the disease to oth- CTS, and it is pointed out that a con sumptive who is careless in these mat
 ters is a source of great danger to whatever household he goes into. The 1 following rules are laid down as those that every doctor, every boarding house keeper, and every consumptiye 1 himself should insist upon:
 "The careful and clean consumptive l Is not dangerous to those with whom he lives and works, the careless one is. The sputum of the consumptive con | tains living germs, which, when breathed in may and very often do set up consumption in others. Every lconsumptive should therefore use the greatest possible precaution against allowing these living, death dealing germs to escape into the air and when he spits, when indoors, he should all
 ways spit into a spitton half filled with water, or into covered bedside
 cup. The contents of these recepta-
 cles should be cleaned out frequently
 and the cup or spittoon sterllized by thorough boiling. When out of doors
 the consumptive should spit only into
 pocket flask, of which there are va
 rious cheap varieties on the market, and this he may do without attracting attention by carrying the bottle con cealed in a handkerchief. If unwill-
 ing to do this, a serviceable and ef-
 fective substitute will be found in
 pieces of cheap thin, white cloth, cut about ten by ten inches, and carried,
 q dozen or more, in the pocket. They
 have the appearance of handkerchief
 and when used once should be put in another pocket in which should be
 placed a small ordinary paper bag for
 their reception. Women sufferers
 from consumption can use the hand
 bags now so common in the same way
 that the men use their pockets. A
 handkerchief is better than nothing,
 but is not as good as the bottle or the
 cloth, as each time it is taken out of
 the pocket it may scatter the germs
 that have been deposited there when
 previously used. The consumptive
 should be particular also when cough ing, as the the small invisible droplets
 expelled in coughing carry with them
 the germs of consumption just as does | the sputum The mouth and nose
 should therefore always be covered
 when coughing. It is best to dispose
 of the sputum of the consumptive by
 burning, and this Is another reason for the use of cloths instead of handker-
 chiefs, the latter If used and put into the wash being apt to convey the
 germs to the other clothing. Where
 there are no regular sewers it is not
 safe to get rid of the sputum of con- lsumptives except by burning"
 It is the committees opinion that or
 dinarily only a small number of those
 suffering from tuberculosis and seek ing charitable assistance are fitted for
 residence in the country and that of
 these only very small number may
 safely take such form of treatment
 without medical supervision.