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9
Society has been formed for the purpose of trying to diminish
this number, by educating the people as to the best means of
preventing this disease. Though the mortality from Phthisis
or.Consumption is gradually becoming less every year, that from
Tabes Mesenierica, or Consumptive Bowels, is gradually becoming
higher. In the latter class it is maintained that it is
largely due to the milk from Tuberculous cows and Tuberculous
meat. It is suggested that all dairies should be frequently
inspected by experts and in the event of any signs of Tuberculosis
appearing in a cow, that it be immediately slaughtered
and the owner compensated, and that abattoirs or public slaughter
houses should be established instead of the private ones now in
use. That an expert be attached to each abattoir who would
thoroughly examine all the carcases before they could be placed
on the market. It is admitted that density of population is an
important factor in the spread ot Tuberculosis. Persons living
in one room suffer more from this disease than those living in two
rooms, those living in two rooms suffer more than those living in
three rooms. But it must be remembered that want of open air
exercise, want of proper food and other such conditions, also
favour its spread; and it is only fair to assume that people living
in one room cannot afford as much time in the open air and buy
as substantial food as those that can afford to live in three or
four roomed houses. The essential factor in the Causation of
Consumption and its allied diseases is the Tubercle Bacillus.
This organism is found under various conditions in regions
frequented by consumptive patients. Strauss experimented at
the Charite Hospital, Paris, by placing in the nostrils of 29
assistants, nurses and ward maids, plugs of cotton-wool to collect
the dust of the wards. In nine of the 29 cases these contained
Tubercle Bacilli, which proved infective to animals. The
breath of persons suffering from Consumption is not infective
but the expectoration contains the bacilli in enormous quantities.
The expectoration when allowed to become dry is widely spread
in the form of dust. The bacilli attach themselves to fine
particles of dust, gain entrance to the system through the Lungs.
When inhaled into the Lungs of a healthy individual they are
readily and rapidly destroyed, but if they are received on suitable
ground where the tissues are more vulnerable and less capable
of resisting infection, the bacilli increase in number and the
person ultimately becomes infected with Tuberculosis. It has
been proved that the dust in a room where a consumptive patient