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St. Giles, Bloomsbury, 3.34 per 1,000.; while of the more favoured
districts, Hampstead furnished 0.74, and Lewisham 0.88 per 1,000.
That tuberculosis, which is the comprehensive name for all
forms of tubercular disease, is infectious has now passed beyond
the bounds of controversy; that it is due to the existence and
propagation of a germ, microbe or bacillus is also an accepted
fact; and that this propagation is favoured by unhealthy occupations
and environment is clearly established, while heredity, which
was formerly regarded as the most frequent cause, is now classed
as of secondary importance.
The principal diseases included in the term tuberculosis are
phthisis, tubercular disease of the lungs or consumption, which
alfects chiefly adults—[This is the most infectious form of the disease
and is spread by the inhalation of air containing the Specific
Bacilli, which, having been expectorated by persons suffering
from the disease, become dried and pass into the atmosphere in
the form of dust]—tabes mesenterica (consumption of the bowels),
tubercular meningitis (inflammation of the membranes of the
brain), and hydrocephalus (water on the brain), all of which
manifest themselves in young children, to whom the bacillus or
germ is conveyed by means of food—especially is this likely to
occur in the case of milk obtained from cows suffering from tuberculous
disease. But whether the cooked flesh of tuberculous animals
is capable of conveying the disease is a very doubtful point.
The question naturally arises as to what can be done to prevent
the spread of tuberculosis, and it has been answered by the
recently formed Association for the Prevention of Consumption
and other Forms of Tuberculosis, the objects of which were
stated, at a meeting held at Marlborough House at which
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales presided, to be :—
1st.—To educate the public as to the means of preventing
the spread of consumption from those already suffering
from the disease;
2nd.—To extinguish tuberculosis in cattle ; and
3rd.—To promote the erection of Sanatoria for the open
air treatment of tuberculous disease.
At present the first of these appears to be the one to which
your Vestry can most readily give practical effect by pointing
out that Consumption is curable if proper means are adopted in