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115
The National Association for the Prevention
of Consumption and other forms of Tuberculosis.—
The above observations seemed desirable by way of introduction
to the subject of the prevention of consumption, which
in 1899 attracted attention in all parts of the civilised world;
and in this country received a great stimulus, due to the
meeting held at Marlborough House, under the presidency of
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, and to the formation of an association
for the diffusion of information in relation to the
nature and cause of consumption, and the measures necessary
for its prevention and cure.
The objects of the association, as defined by Sir William
Broadbent, at the Marlborough House meeting, are:—
(1). To educate the public as to the means of preventing
the spread of consumption from those already suffering from
the disease;
(2). To extinguish tuberculosis in cattle; and
(3). To promote the erection of sanatoria for the open
air treatment of tuberculous disease.
The association does not advocate compulsory notification
of consumption; but it urges upon sanitary authorities
the desirability of insisting on the disinfection of rooms in
which consumptive persons die, or from which such persons
may have removed. Against the spread of tuberculosis through
milk, it advocates the testing of cows by tuberculin; the
isolation of diseased animals; the supervision of cattle sheds,
and of dairy farms, and of all the agencies for the distribution
of milk. The provision of public slaughter-houses is
also recommended—with the view to insure the inspection of
carcases before the evidences of disease are removed—and
the sterilization of food; of milk by boiling, and of meat by