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either died or were living and suffering from the disease, in
6 cases it was the father, in 4 cases the mother, and in 3 cases
both parents, who were consumptive. Grand-parents were
infected in 6 cases.
Brothers or sisters were consumptive in 11 instances,
brothers in 6, sisters in 4, and both in 1.
Special reference may be made to one case, in which the
father, mother, 2 brothers, and 2 sisters had died of the complaint.
It was found that the period during which the various
individuals notified had been suffering from the disease varied
considerably; from two or three weeks, to as long as fifteen and
sixteen years in 2 cases. It is impossible to even approximately
define the period in a large number of cases, so insidious is the
disease in its early stages, when it is commonly regarded as
nothing more than a cough. Probably 50 patients had suffered
from the disease for less than twelve months, and 37 for over
twelve months at the time when the inquiries were made. In
13 cases the duration of the disease had exceeded three years.
Four of the patients had previously been in Sanatoria.
The most frequent causes of the disease, in the opinion of
the patients themselves, were exposure to dampness, wet and
cold, influenza, repeated colds, pleurisy, pneumonia, and winter
coughs. It was frequently in evidence that overwork, confinement
at work, shortage of food, or alcoholism, played a part in determining
the onset of the disease. Contact with a previous case
was alleged to have been the source of infection in 2 cases.
The occupations of the persons notified were very various.
Indeed, almost all kinds of industrial employment are entered
upon the inquiry forms; and there is nothing to indicate any
special prevalence of the disease in any particular form of such
occupation, when one bears in mind the proportions in which
different occupations attract the working-class population.