The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-07-31

In the days not too long ago to be
termed recent, when pulmonary tuber-
culosis was considered an incurable
disease, there was little need it SEEM
ed, of any State or municipal provision
except for advanced cases of phthisis
among the very poor.
The existing hospitals served we'll
enough as the last retreat of the
homeless and hopeless patient
At this time, or little earlier, Koch
had not made his wonderful discovery,
and those suffering from consumption
were not considered a source of dan
ger to others, but lived and moved,
and finally died, among their kind
without regard to the spread of a dis
ease they did not recognize as infec-
tious.
But with a consistent devotion TO
their profession, and a love for re-
search which has characterized medi-
cal men since the days of Hippocrates,
Bavle in 1910, and Laennec later. de-
scribed the anatomical changes induc-
ed by tuberculosis of the lungs. and
classed as specific" of tuberculosis
the peculiar tissue alteration which
Virshow has termed causeation.
Wagner, 5chuppel, Langhans and
others. dwelt on the tubercle. but no
great advance was made until about
the close of our Civil War. when VII
lemin found that tuberculosis could be
induced in healthy animals by inocu-
lating them with tuberculous and
cheesy products.
Then followed valuable experiments
in incubation by Geriach, Bollinger,
Aufrecht, Chaveau. Leissering. Parrot,
Puech, and many more. Here was GER
tainly bright spot from their search
light thrown upon the wide back
ground of investigation, and it was
soon after Klebs. Cohnheim and Fraen-
KEEL had declared tuberculosis to be a
Specific, infectious disease" that Koch
discovered the bacillus which has made
him famous
What leap he took. this indefatig-
able student, alone at first, then fol-
lowed by few of the more advanced,
until he had gathered the whole pro-
fession about him!
1t was hard work to get rid of the
hereditary" theory, of "scrofula, u
and the inheritance of tuberculosis.
And we are only now shedding the
mots termed diathesis and scrofulosis
But all this advance in science, great
as it was, did not offer any encour.
agement to the individual who haC
consumption; he knew what caused it
to be sure, but ne also knew mat, &C
cording to the knowledge of the time
he was doomed to die as other. con
sumptives were dying around him.
This ubiquitous and invinclble dis
ease was incurable-a fatal process
ending sooner or later in death; com
ing to rich and poor, impartial alik
to both.
But with the discovery of 1881 cam
measures towards safeguarding tn
well. While those with the hereditar
or scrofulous diathesis were regards
by the medical profession much a
= non-elect and non-predestined sinner
were looked upon by their religion
teachers, that is, doomed to certai
destruction in the end, yet they wer
not treated as without hope, and thei
escape was made possible by the bene
ficence of nature.
DIR. Thomas, of Chicago, voices tn
opinion of all other authorities on tn
subject when he says that incipieI
tuberculosis is one of the most easil
cured of diseases, and that sanatoriuI
methods result in from IS per cent t
e 95 per cent of early cases of phthisi
being dropped from the records as al
solutely cured.
Dr. T. Mitchell Prudden says:
And so today the outlook for thos
in the earlier stage of this disease i
in a considerable proportion of case
I extremely encouraging. 1t is no Ions
er for us the hopeless malady which
was earlier believed to be. It is nj
necessarily a bitter, losing fight upo
which one enters who becomes awal
that the finger of disease is upon hin
A long and happy and useful life ma
still be his il the conditions whiC
favor his cure be early and intelligent
ly fixed upon, and patiently and faitl
fully persisted in"
Such results are secured largely.
not entirely, by natural methods, witt
out the use of disagreeable drugs al
annoying lines Of treatment, which,
, delicate persons, are such a burden.
We must have rest, food, air
Gods free sunshine for as much
T. the Time as possible, nutrition al
palatable food, cheerful thoughts al
company, pure air and vistas of nat
raj scenery which inspire the mind al
uplift the soul.
Could any one ask for better med
cine?
HAWAII