Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-12-25
FRESH AIR AND TUBERCULOSIS.

That there was any tuberculosis
among the human race in the prehis-
toric days when men lived wild and
rugged lives without fixed habitation
in the mild climate where the species
first developed is highly improbable.
The disease undoubtedly made its first
appearance only after men began to
herd together and live a communal
life; the evidence seems to prove that
it tends constantly to increase pro-
gressively with our advance in mater.
ial wealth and culture as the indi-
vidual ia more and more removed
from the fundamental source of ener-
gy.
In the writings OF Hippocrates, the
father Of medicine, who lived 400 to
359 B. c., are directions for the care
of case suggestively familiar to us,
for he describes something suspicious
ly like modern tuberculosis, correctly
interpreting it as fever and recon.
mending for it fresh air, change of eli.
mate and hygienic living.
Prom the fact that Celcus, a Rom
an medical writer who lived in the
first century A. D., and Claudius Gal.
en-, a Greek physician and medical
writer "a. D. 131 to 200), approve Hip.
pocrates advice in their writings, it is
reasonable to assume that the pray.
ers and lamentations customary among
the priests and people generally from
the dawn of history were still depend.
ed on in that day to combat the dis.
ease. Galen in his writings recog.
nlzed tuberculosis to be contagious.
In general from the birth of the
tribe down through the centuries when
the physician was half magician and
half priest, and to doubt his skill was
an act of impiety, the demand has
been for pure magic, and, of course,
strenuous efforts have been made to
supply the demand. This effort will
continue until an enlightened people
cease to ask the impossible. Invalids
have been bled to death and dosed
with poisonous elixirs of life to no
avail, but the people have held stead.
tasty to their faith in magic
But with the cultivation of pecul.
lar greenish-gray scum, fungus or
mold on egg albumen by Klebs in 1877
there began an era of sanity. From
this beginning Robert Koch in 1882
succeeded in isolating and staining
the tubercle bacillus. From this point
step by step we have advanced along
the road leading to control of the
disease and after all the wandering
and experimenting are finally today
back where that keen eyed, thought
full old Greek, Hippocrates, stood 1890
years ago. Fresh air and hygienic
living are the key which modern sci.
ence holds out for the release of hui
manity from the bondage of tuber-
culosis. Healthy blood is the most
certain and vigorous of all germicides,
and it is very certain that there never
will be discovered any method for the
manufacture of healthy blood superior
to the natural one of drawing an abun-
dance of fresh, clean air into the
lungs, introducing plenty of simple,
wholesome food into the stomach,
keeping the skin clean and active, and
in general living sane, normal life.
Just recently have been asked by
the mother of a delicate girl if night
air was safe for her to breathe. The
results secured among the snow COW
cred peaks of the Alps in cases of sur
gical tuberculosis of the bones furnish
the answer to this question. Cases of
undeniable tuberculosis have been
carried to the point of treatment be-
cause the invalid was too weak to
walk, and heliotherapy has been tried
as the last resort before the amputa-
tion that had been recommended by
competent authority. In the course
of few months the victim, with the
skin from head to foot tanned to the
color of piece Of rare mahogany, has
recovered suffic ient vitality to enjoy
going out in the cold, crisp air arrayed
in nothing but a breechcloth and play
ing games in the snow. Good food,
fresh air, and the general tone &C
quired from coming close to nature
are what Is responsible for the won
derful results secured in those insti.
tutions.
Very obviously the lesson to the
rest of us should be that 1t is our in.
dividual duty to our family and the
community to make such good use
of this knowledge of natures work
ings that we shall not become infirm
and burden. No one is immune I'M
less he lives rational normal life and
none is SO strong that he may not
quickly become weak. 1t is in these
periods Of weakness that infection
may seize us, to be subdued only
through the regaining Of vitality. But
the trouble is not cured" it is simply
latent and ready to flare up again the
instant we permit our vital powers to
drop below certain point.
Loss of ambition and energy, a ca.
PRECIOUS appetite, dyspepsias of all
sorts are to be viewed with suspicion.
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