Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-01-16
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
PREVENT TUBERCULOSIS
BRIGGS
TO the Editor of the Telegraph:

To the Editor of the Telegraph:
Sir:
AS such a vast number of people
are, dying of tuberculosis, l wish to
offer few observations, not on the
cure, but on the prevention of the
disease. The writer has no objection
to the segregation of tubercular
cases in sanatoriums, where they
have the most nutritious food and
pure mountain air. This Is the best
that can be done with the adult. 1t
is my contention, that instead of
beginning with the adult we begin
with the child. 1t seems to be a. law
of nature, that in many cases the
mother transmits to the child the
conformation of it's chest. If the
child is born of q tubercular mother,
and has a narrow contracted chest,
it is at once predisposed to tubercu-
losis.
The plan l suggest, is to have all
such children trained in lung in
fiations untfl the wall of the chest is
forced out to normal condition.
The bones of the chest in chill
dren, being quite soft, this expan-
sion should be accomplished with
very little trouble. Train the child
to clasp It's hands on the top of its
head, and with it's chin elevated to
breathe as deeply as possible. Years
ago in advising some college girls
concerning their health, 1 gave them
the following lines in a verse:
: Clasp tight your hands above your
head, ...
Then march around with stately
tread, . a,.
Lift up your chin and take deep
breath,
And fortify yourself with health.
II the expansion of the chest Is
not effected in early life, the op-
portunity is lost forever, as the
bones soon harden, making it i'm
possible in after years.
In travelling over the plateaus of
Arizona at an altitude of six thou
sand feet, I found people who had
been cured of tuberculosis, but they
were held there as prisoners. If
they went down toward the coast
their trouble returned. Their mar
row chests invited the disease to
return. At sea level people are said
to use only about three fourths sof
their lungs in respiration, but at an
altitude of six thousand feet, the
air is so rarefied that every air cell
Is called into action, and this ex-
ira and continuous exercise
angthens the lungs and causes
them to throw off tuberculosis.
i saw man from Kansas, whose
chest l examined, and found his
left lung had entirely disappeared.
He was living on one lung, and
was strong and well, and doing the
work of a carpenter every day.
Now let us apply these principles
to the child. AS the attenuated air
of the mountains compels deep
chest inspiration, so let us compel
the child to breathe deeply. In this
class of cases we will take nature
for our teacher.
If the soft CONGRATULATIONS
bones or ribs of the child are slow
ly and carefully forced to expand
until the conformation of the chest
is normal. we relieve him of the
distressing condition in which he
was born, and make il possible and
probable that he will escape the
wretched death of tuberculosis.
In this state we have no six
| thousand feet of altitude, and with
our sanatoriums at less than half
elevation, 1 have wondered whether
the tubercular patients, after hav-
ing spent term at the sanatorium,
will. not relapse into their former
condition when they return to the
lower level where they formerly
lived
DIR. J. L. McKEEHAN.
carlisle, Pa, Jan. TO-. 1919.