The Washington times., 1916-09-19

n NCIEET lore IL a poor guide. In
~ medicine, as well as In all the
N other professions OF life. the
best wisdom IL the very latest
knowledge.
This 10 particularly true OF that slow.
sneaky. lnsidious malady, tuberculosis.
| Once called and feared as "consump-
tion.' II IL now disguised under the
name of It's germ. the bacillus OF tuber-
culosis. discovered a generation ago by
Robert Koch.
a child OF two or three and there lie hid
den like a cutthroat In an alley. until
adult life In reached. Then II starts
fires and explosions In the glands Of
the neck or abdomen. In the lungs. In
the bones or elsewhere.
A leper may walk at large In a COM
| munity for twenty-five years and seem
| to be harmless to himself and to others,
yet he has left a fiery trail OF infec-
tious leprosy bacilh scattered about:
and may. lie dormant for years and
! years before they rear their Gorgon
heads and other lepers appear.
SO Il IL with tuberculosis. No age. sex
| or condition seems to be exempt. In
fants receive the Infection from nurse
! girls. floors OF old houses. laundry ana
| the milk OF infected cows Grown.ups
| inoculate the little ones from their
kisses. their coughs and their sneezes.
How Infection May Occur.
! or Iis little patients in one children's
| institution. 80 were infected with tuber-
cuiosis before the second year, % be-
tween the ages Of two and five, and IL
I after they were Ave years old. While
a few were directly infected before
! from the mothers blood to their own
this IL not heredity. but direct mater
| nal transmission of tuberculosis
nevertheless. many child sufferers have
planted In them by the playful bites
Of elders who have tuberculosis, by
promlscuous kissing. by midwives who
have the disease, by playing In rooms
where there previously had been a
tuberculosis victim. since moved away
and from the wash or laundry.
In one small village. where the peo'
pie were too ignorant to engage doc.
tors. two nfihwives served almost al
OF the 1900 Inhabitants when births
infants brought into the world under
the eye OF one midwife died OF tuber'
culosis meningitis. Yet the people con.
sidered II a ''dispensation Of Provi'
dence" and IL did not dampen theii
faith when one OF the midwives wa,
found to be suffering with tuberculosis
Of the lungs. The people considerec
that she was fine, because she said
sne never Ielt. DetteTA IN ner IRE, hnC
meyer eonsuftedy a. doctor about any
thing" This midwife. as soon as q
baby was born, put her mouth to the
child's and blew Into Its lungs to "giv,
II a good breath OF life"-which wa,
really death from the tubercle bacill
she had In her own diseased lungs.
Recognition Must Precede Cure.
ALTHOUGH tuberculosis thus CAUGHT ir
chiidhood may not appear for years. Il
4 sometimes develops In "a few months "
children Kept mulch indeets md in dari
rooms. Two little girls who spent much
OF their timo IN iingv room OF a
woman who had cough fell Ill afte'
three months with spinal MENINGITIS
II was soon evident that they had tu
bercuIosis OF the lining of the spina
column and skull. In six weeks mor'
both the little girls were dead of tuber
culous meningitis. Then the obstinate
and ignorant Rrown-ups still refused e
believe that the woman 4SSith the cougl
mad tuberculosis and was the uninten
tional but nevertheless actual ASSASSIN