Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-12-13

ny WHICH dloLe pdllellL IDdy Uc oetNSos
unless he possesses or can be cas-
lily aroused to manifest Il spirit
Of determination, docility, and persever-
ance.
Next to the patients character, his
income is the most important factor in
relation to recovery. Taking it by and
large, consumption is durable in the
rich, incurable in the poor, while in the
moderately well-to-do the chances are
proportionately intermediate. Each Of
the essentials of the treatment is costly.
Neither rest, fresh air. nor food can be
had without considerable expense and
the convalescence is almost as expensive
as the acuter phases of the disease.
And next in character and income the
most important determining fact is the
family history. If parent or near rel
ative has shown great capacity to re-
sist the disease and to transform it into
the so-called "old-fashioned" type of
consumption, there is some ground for
expecting that the patient will show the
same qualities which under the title of
''diathesis" or 'constition" have long
been recognized as of great Importance.
Naturally. the amount of lung involved,
the severity or mildness of constitu-
tional symptoms. the number of bacilli
in the sputum. the patients liability to
or freedom from digestive troubles, the
reliability of the appetite and finally
the presence or absence of tuberculous
foci elsewhere in the body.-all these
materially affect the outcome.
Prophylaxis
In no condition does Franklin's adage,
An ounce of prevention Is worth a
pound of cure" nor the statement of
John Lock that. Prevention is better
than cure and far cheaper" apply so
forcibly as in tuberculosis. The sad
and deplorable feature of Earl Mayo's
statements relative to consumption in
the December 7th issue of the Outlook
1912 is that these are deaths from a pre-
ventable disease. One million five hun
dred thousand persons die yearly in the
United States. Forty per cent of these
or 100000 represent absolute waste be-
cause due to preventable disease, and Of
the latter number tuberculosis claims
10000. I'm this army of victims" con-
tinues Mayo. ARE children in whom are
centered the hopes and pride Of parents,
young men and young women just ready
to enter on careers of usefulness, earn
ers whose families are deprived of COM
Portable support, young mothers snatch
ed away from little children who need
their care" Time does not permit us
to enter into a discussion of the Geo.
nomic aspect of such wanton waste Of
human life which is also the cause Of
most preventable sickness. but the ques-
ton naturally arises, what can be done
about 1t?
In presenting a remedy for this evil.
one must first recognize it's sociologic
character. The bacillus is essential, to
be sure, but without poverty and all
that word implies; without overwork, |
and unhygienic surroundings, and child
labor; without bronchitis. and measles |
and whooping cough; without ignorance |
which leads people to form so utterly |
absurd an organization as the League |
for medical freedom" so-called; without |
the greed and lust for wealth which |
leads to the manufacture and sale Of pa !
tent medicines and to the sale Of adul- !
tcrated foods to the poor, without all |
these. say. the tuberclc bacillus would |
be comparatively innocuous. In other |
words, both the primary and secondary |
causes must be met, hence the sociologic |
nature of the problem. Education Of |
the masses by any and every possible |
means can alone i'll time remove the sec |
ondary causes. The enlightenment of |
a people is, however. a matter of con- |
turtles rather than of years. and in tho |
meantime the active, aggressive intel |
ligent efforts of those who are educated |
ought he dire ted he
of the bacillus itself. No less |
a man than the immortal Pasteur said. |
1T is in the power of man to cause all |
parasitic germ disease to disappear |
from the world"
hitherto the medical profession has |
MADE the grievous mistake of laying too !
much emphasis upon the durability OF !
the disease in it's incipicncy, upon the |
sanatorium and class treatment of pa /
TENTS in the early stage. This work |
has had an educational value inestima- |
Die but If, while we thus vigorously !
treat the early stage Of the disease. we !
fail to make adequate provision for him
who is more advanced, we are in the DO
sltion Of one attempting to plug I'D the
hole in a boat by bailing out the water
as fast as it enters. The early case of
tuberculosis is really harmless; the adj
one, extremely dangerous. His !:
sputa are laden with myriads of baci,li
each one Of which is capable Of infect
Ing another individual
In this connection consider for a mo-
ment the following experiment. Thir-
~ house flies were confined in an in.
'erted glass jar with a dish cantain.
ns sputum to the number of about
en- bacilli in each microscopic field
The flies were allowed to feed on this
sputum between August 10th and 18th.
c4 At the expiration Of this three-dav
period, tubercle bacilI were found in the
htestlnal contents of each fly. Further
observation proved that these organisms
appeared in the flies stools within Is
hours after their ingesticn. Examination
liso revealed the astonishing fact that
'ach speck on the inside Of the glass lar
contained from 5000 to 5000 bacilli. About
w specks had been deposited by the 20
lies In three days; thus. at the above
'ate' from 100000 to 10000 tubercle
'acilii had been transferred from the
putum to the inner side of the jar dur
ns THIS period. AS rule. my friends,
ms transference is not from sputum to
glass jar. but rather from sputum to
Wwsk 1t