The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1909-04-10
INFLUENCE Of Gil
MATE ON DISEASE

guished physician of Portland, i:
writing Interestingly to several
weekly and monthly publications or
the subject of diseases which are ia
miliar to us all but concerning
which there is much misinforma
ton and error. The doctor says that
rheumatism is usually the result OF
bad cold and sore throat, and ii
these be prevented or taken in time
rheumatism may in many cases be
avoided or be of short duration. He
also explodes the fallacy which has
always pronounced indulgence in red
meats as a breeder of the pains AMI
twinges which harrass the rheuma-
tic patient. He advocates full and
free diet and says the patient is all
the better for eating red meats.
In Outing Magazine Dr. Hutchin-
son takes up the subject of the infiu-
ence of climate on consumption and
deals the idea some pretty hard
blows, as follows:
upon one point we wish to raise
a note of warning, and that is, to put
it briefly, that climate is only one
half the cure. The second pillar upon
which our modern sanatorium
treatment, not merely of tubercu-
losis, but of neurasthenia, of amaze
mia, or dyspepsia, is based, is rich
and abundant food. Our standard,
for instance, in some of the camp
sanatoria for tuberculosis, Is three
square meals day, besides from a
dozen to dozen and half raw eggs
and two quarts of milk. Patients
are trained as Systematically to take
large amounts of nourishing foods as
they are to lie in the open air. In
the very nature of things, deserts and
mountain tops are places where crops
do not grow, except at great labor
and expense, consequently the supply
of food is either poor or inadequate,
or has to be shipped in from long dis
tances and is CORRESPONDENCE expen-
sive
ITO allow a poor consumptive to
spend his last $50 on his railroad
ticket and land himself in country
where expenses of all sorts are near
ly double what he has been accus-
toned to in his eastern home, in the
fond hope that climate alone will
a swift and distressing death under
conditions of much hardship and suf-
fering. The same money burned up
in two short months by his travelling
expenses and the high price of food,
would have paid his expenses for six
months at some home sanatorium.
and been much more likely to have eff
fected a cure.
II can speak from repeated perso-
nal experiences when I say, that for
patient to go west or south without
plenty of money to supply himself
with the best of food and care, for
at least three to six months, and to
build his own shack, or rent his own
cottage, is simply one way of commit
ting suicide by a very disagreeable
route
"The cheap and abundant food sup
ply of our northern regions is, in con-
sumption, pretty near an Offset to the
climatic advantages of the south and
southwest Moreover, from a practi-
cal point of view, it is a great advan-
tage to the consumptive to be cured
1D I'll 70 IN xx,IS o1, L1 20
live and work in future How many
times have I heard 1t said by physi-
clans in Arizona and California, ooh,
yes, So-and-so came out here, did
splendidly, stayed six months and
then went back home, sure he was
cured. When the cold weather came
he began shutting his windows again,
and within three months I heard he
was dead"
What DR.. Hutchinson says is true
in some respects, but If the patient
had remained in the west and exer-
cised due care he might have lived to
a ripe old age. Fresh air, consequent
upon outdoor living, is the greatest
agency in the cure of consumption
but the man who attempts to live out
of doors the year round in New Eng
land may get rid of consumption but
there is small choice of dying with
a ruptured lung or being frozen to
death The secret of the matter is
that in Arizona, California and the
Northwest consumptives may sleep
out of doors every night in the year,
if protected from the rain and wind,
and that is where the efficacy of our
climate comes in. Naturally if a per-
son goes back east and winter comes
ON they will close their windows.
This makes the disease worse, while
to sleep with them open
would result fatally. Climate is the
greatest aid in the cure of consump-
ton because it permits of the prop
err course of living, and if DR.. Hutch
inson succeeds in convincing any