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of consumption in 15 different families. Quite recently a newlymarried
couple flitted to this tuberculous nest. In due course both
husband and wife have developed grave manifestation of disease."
The Edinburgh Institution was established, and is maintained
by voluntary subscriptions. The municipality of Edinburgh,
however, grants a yearly subsidy to the dispensary. The Medical
Officer of Health, Dr. Maxwell Williamson, informs me "only comparatively
recently the local authority agreed to pay a subsidy of
£500 per annum in order through co-operation with the dispensary,
to have the fullest possible advantages from it. That arrangement
is now in force and is working satisfactorily."
2. Results obtainable from the working of a Tuberculosis Dispensary.
It is obvious that by means of the domiciliary visits of the doctor
and nurse of the Institution a more complete knowledge of the whereabouts
of cases in all stages of the disease is obtainable, and in
course of time the whole of the cases existing in the Borough could
be brought under the control of the dispensary. A further result of
this knowledge would be the more thorough education of the persons
suffering, as well as other members of their families, in the necessary
measures for preventing the spread of the disease.
Opportunity here arises also for recommending the appropriate
treatment for patients in different stages of the disease, and for
bringing necessitous patients and their families into touch with
institutions granting relief. The final result unquestionably would
be a diminished prevalence and mortality from consumption in the
Borough.
Dr. Philip, when commenting upon the result of the antituberculosis
effort carried on for some years in Edinburgh, compares
the curve of tuberculosis mortality, for the years 1887 to 1906, of that
city with that of London, and further adds:—"In the case of
Edinburgh, I think, without straining the point, the curve affords
significant evidence of the influence exercised on tuberculosis by the
institution of organised and co-ordinated effort. In addition to less