The Baltimore County union, the Towson news., 1909-11-27
DIR. FORSTER TO LEAVE.

A misfortune will come to Baltimore county,
and in fact to the State of Maryland at the
beginning of the next calendar year, when DR..
A. NJ. Forster is to leave Eudowood Sanator-
ium, or the Hospital for Consumptives, near
Towson, to take up larger work in Louisville,
Kentucky. DR.. Forster has had a remarkable
career and has accomplished splendid things
against great odds. Born near Charleston,
South Carolina, less than forty years ago, he
has lived in several States, at one period calling
Louisville his home. Immediately after his
graduation in medical course he was stricken
with tuberculosis in a severe form. He was
sent at once to Saranac Lake, New York, to be
under the care of DIR. Trudeau, the celebrated
specialist in that disease, but arriving there on
a cold winter day, without resources and with
out friends, he found the sanatorium crowded
There was not nook or a corner for him to
crawl into. The future looked dark indeed.
Seriously i'll, not able to secure bed in the
sanatorium and not able to pay for bis board
and lodging at a hotel or boarding house for
any length of time, what was he to do? Not
knowing what was to be the outcome he spent
that night in q very depressed state of mind.
Early the next day a message came from one
of DIR. Trudeau's associates asking him to
become an assistant in the tuberculosis labora-
tory where scientific studies concerning the
nature of the disease and its treatment were
being carried on. He, Of course, accepted the
timely offer, thereby earning livelihood and
at the same time laying the foundation for his
special knowledge of tuberculosis, which he
was to make his life work.
Three and a-half years ago he was called to
Eudowood as resident physician, having
charge of all its departments under the general
supervision of board of directors made up of
doctors and business men residing in Balti-
more city and county. When he arrived the
sanatorium had thirty beds; today it has one
hundred. Then its farm was primitive; today
it is large and successful, supplying the major
part of the food of the institution. Then there
was no farm colony for convalescent patients;
today this is a reality, with some fifteen men
and women living on an adjoining farm and
doing open-air work of proper kind and
amount until able to return to their former
occupations. Then there was no training
school for tuberculosis nurses; now there are
six convalescent patients in training, thus help
ing the sanatorium and preparing to earn their
livelihood outside of the institution when they
are discharged as cured. DR.. Forster is not by
any means alone responsible for all this de-
velopment; many others have had great or
small share in it. But he has been a very i'm
portant factor in each field and in some he has
been the most important factor.
Then, too, he has had a large part in the
developments that have taken place in Mary
land in the fight against tuberculosis beyond
the immediate territory filled by Eudowood.
The Phipps tuberculosis Dispensary is in a
measure indebted to him for the success it has
had in its important work. And DR.. Forster's
accomplishments at the local sanatorium have
had more or less tangible and yet lasting
influence on this work in other States and
other countries. The farm colony is being
watched far and wide and because of its sue
cess it is likely to be copied in the near future
in many places. The conception is not original
with those in charge of Eudowood, for it has
been talked of in Germany for some years. but
it has not been put into effect elsewhere and
therefore this institution is unique in this
respect.
An especially and regretful feature involved
in the loss of DR.. Forster is the fact that Louis
vile, a community about one-third the size of
Baltimore and its vicinity, can offer man of
his ability and success more than we can. 1t
is not merely a matter of salary. This part of
the Louisville offer could very likely have
been met by those responsible for our insti-
tuition. The fundamental fact is that the State
of Kentucky and the municipality of Louis
vile have by advanced legislation provided
much more adequately and in a constructive
way for the eradication of this dread disease
than have Maryland and Baltimore. Much
has been done here, but although we are in
some degree pioneers in the fight against tuber-
culosis, we have allowed other communities to
outdistance US in this splendid race.
We will try, however, to do better in future,
taking advantage of the lesson we have learned
in this instance, and being good losers, we
extend our thanks to DR.. Forster for what he
has done for us, offer him our congratulations
and wish him the utmost success in his new
field of labor.