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from taking advantage of Sanatorium treatment. Two of the persons
admitted to Northwood prematurely discharged themselves from the
institution though they were making satisfactory progress. The reason
assigned was, that they were the bread winners of the family, and there
was no one to maintain the family whilst they were undergoing treatment.
To secure early treatment it would be necessary to render aid
to the dependents of the sufferer in addition to treating the patient.
Freed from anxiety, he would enjoy a better hope for recovery.
To some of those who have applied, it has been pointed out what
"cure" means in consumption, and in one instance the sufferer was
able to obtain an outdoor employment after his discharge from the
Sanatorium. Unfortunately, a large number of patients do not quite
appreciate what a "cure" in consumption means. The disease is
not "cured" in the same way as Diphtheria, Scarlet Fever and Small
Pox are. There is no disease that is so frequently arrested as Consumption,
but it is equally true that there are no subjects so liable to
a relapse as the consumptive patients, and this constitutes a fundamental
difference between Consumption and the other diseases mentioned
above. Consumption is similar to Scarlet Fever and Diphtheria
in this respect, that they are infectious diseases and caused by microorganisms,
but there is this broad distinction to be drawn between them
—in one class, an attack renders the individual more liable to a relapse,
or more correctly, to a recurrence, whilst in the other one attack
usually confers an immunity from further attacks of that particular
disease.
The object of the residence at the Savtorium is two-fold—to
arrest the progress of the disease and to inculcate in the patient the
principles which underly the treatment. The first can be accomplished
in all cases of Consumption that have not advanced too far. To
accomplish the second object you must select the class of people
treated, otherwise a relapse occurs as soon as the patient returns to
the conditions under which he contracted the disease primarily. The
disappointment he feels is proportionate to the hope born. To this
extent, we should frankly admit the limitations of Savtorium treatment.
unless, of course, the authorities governing such institutions can
combine them with working colonies, where poor patients could be
put in the way of fitting themselves for a useful outdoor life after