The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-19
TEACHERS AND
 TUBERCULOSIS (Paper By Stephen J. Maher N D., Chairman of the
 State Tuberculosis Commssion)
.6By gstephen J. Maher M. D.. Chai

6By stephen J. Maher M. D.. Chair
 man State Tuberculosis Com
 rnission.9
 Teachers who remember what the conditions were in Connecticut twen- l ty, fifteen, or even ten years ago, will, l I think, agree with me when say that during the periods of time men toned, consumptive children have all most disappeared from our schools, They have not disappeared from the state. They no longer go to school. I Nowadays, it is indeed a stupid par ent who does not sense danger in child's persigten cough, particularly | when the cough is accompanied with tlessenfng appetite. dwind1ing strength, or daily levers or cflil1iness, even if the cough seems to be only a part of a recent attack of measles, or whoop- ing cough, or typhoid or malaria, or grip, or some other acute illness. Now adays, perhaps by advice of school doctor or nurse, little John or Mary is I kept home and turned over to the family physician or the dispensary, or I the visiting nurses, or the sanator- iun1, and the dreaded cough is no | longer heard in the class room.
 This result is. of course, due to the campaign against tuberculosis that 1 has been waged with such energy and with such public and private gener- 1 osfty during recent years. It is | result tO GG4I1SA1DSE d4g8 I0 FD9E p1OQ05 Of. No little Of the credit for the se- curing of this result is due to the 1 tactfully exercised influence of the school teachers of the state. There fore, in this communicattons written on the courteous invitation of your lA1ditor, I would like 10 focus your attention on another part of the tuber- cuIosis problem, a part of the prob I lem that heretofore Connecticut has not considered very seriously and a T the teachers of the state to help us solve refer, of course, to bone and glandular tubercuIosia.
 Inprtsonei Germs.
 It may not be necessary for me to explain that in children practically all chronic swel1ings or Jumps in the l neck or under the arms are caused by the tubercIe bacillue The child with q tuberculous swelling on one of I both sides of the neck ,or in the arm I pits may not appear sick. Neverthe- less, his future usefulness, and his | life even, are in greater jeopardy than they would be if he had typhoid or T smallpox. The very fact that these glands, swollen with tuberculosis, may be tolerated by the child for months, and sometimes for years without com iplaint does not mean that they are ss not doing the child harm. Even if the germs of the disease are kept so I tightly encased in the swollen glands. that they are unable to. get out into 1.-the blood or lymph streams of the bodyt some Of the poisol1s that the islow- growing germs generate in their Iprisons are almost sure to exude through the prison walls and do se- srious mischief to the blood the heart, the kidneys, the liver or tine skin. And Tiff, as the result of an injury or of an Attack of some ordinary sickness of chi1dhood. the little patti ent's power Of resistance tei, the constant efforts asof the tuberc1et bacilH to escape from their prisons i'd lessened, the child is almost certain 10 have its whole sys- Item suddenly assadled by hungry lordes of microscopic enemies who gradually settle in the coverings of the brains or in the lungs, and soon Tadd another to the long line of their victories over eIle human kind.
 That is glandular tuberculosis.
 Bone Destroying Germs.
 aBut bone tuberculosis.' you ex .I claim. Surely we don't see any of that in schooI,' Yes, you do. Have u you seen no hunchback child in schooI2 Have you seen no child with it's head twisted permanently to one side2 Have you seen no child in school with an irnmovabIe shoulder. or elbow I joint2 Or with swollen and perna- d nently stiff wrist or fingers? Haven't you 2 soft spot in your heart for the J memory of some little boy or girl, lame with hip disease brought on by a fall ?,' Don't you remember your sudden wrath when in rough play at recess little crutch was torn from weak hand, and pair of t pleading eyes looked up from the Fl ground at you for help and compass I sion? And then didn't you spend more time than the inspector would permit in soothing the pain in swollen knee and a wasted leg
 That is bone tuberculosis-bone tu- FbercuIosis of the less narrowing types. z won't ask you to look on the types that finger so long in hospital ward4, riddIed with holes, wretched victims of surgical scrapingB and anputations.
 Raw MILK and Tuberculosis.
 If you ask me what causes gfan- duIar and bone tuberculosis must
 of course answer, the tubercIe bacil- Illus. If you ask me why in the cases under consideration the tuberc1e bac- illus develops in the glands and bones instead of in the lungs, would not
 know how to answer.
 We know, of course, that g1anduIar
 tuberculosis frequently follows meas : les and scarlet fever and suppurative
 conditions of the mouth, throat and
 ears, but we know also that it occurs without any discoveraBle predatory illness We know that bone tuber- culosis frequently follows a slight in Jury, but we know also that it deveI- , ops without g. history of hurt.
 For many years one of the most eminent European specialists, Dr. Ma
 than Raw of Liverpool, has been try ing to persuade the medical profes- ] sion that all glandular and bone tu-
 berculosis in human beings is caused by drinking milk from tubercuIous 5 cows.
 His argument, drawn from findings
 in laboratories, hospital wards. sur :. gical operations and from the results p of the municipal substituting of boiled
 milk for raw milk, is very impressive
 I am not yet convinced that he is { right, but, in searching for the cause of g given outbreak of glandular o1 5 bone tuberculosis it is important te