22 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



ailments are very prevalent and almost unavoidable, to judge only by 

 the numerous traces of mucous sputum displayed on public thorough- 

 fares, mostly witnesses of chronic catarrh. The first irritation is not 

 always caused by exposure to cold, dryness or humidity, but often by 

 soot and dust, or the depressing conditions of indoor and city life 

 generally. As to the effect of these impurities on diseased tissue, we 

 have recently come to authoritative information through the report of 

 the committee on the influence of climate, made before the National 

 Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis. By analysis 

 of the various factors contributing to a successful cure, it was found 

 that good results may be secured under most widely differing climatic 

 conditions, the benefits of relative humidity, temperature, altitude, etc., 

 being practically dependent upon the patient's general condition or con- 

 stitution. It has been found, however, that, when other things are 

 equal and the same attention is paid to diet and hygiene, the best 

 results have always been noted where the atmosphere was purest. In- 

 deed the report places ' Abundance and bacteriological and chemical 

 purity of the air ' as first among the beneficial influences, while the 

 value of sunshine and the therapeutic effects of coolness, dryness, etc., 

 are placed next in order of importance. 



Surprising results seem to have been obtained lately by the out- 

 door treatment of pneumonia, in which very probably the greater 

 purity of the air is a contributing factor. The success of the fresh- 

 air colony at Seabreeze also confirms the theory that the cure is greatly 

 assisted by the pure sea air, that is, by the absence of dust and bacteria, 

 which irritate, and continually bring renewed infection to the recep- 

 tive diseased parts. It is for this reason that outdoor life, almost any- 

 where, is beneficial to lung patients, since they avoid at least some of 

 the multifarious, insidious forms of contamination peculiar to the air 

 in the average dwelling. 



All these facts point to the meaning of impure atmosphere in 

 densely populated cities, where the seeds of disease are most abundant, 

 and the field for infection is prepared for it, fertilized, so to speak, by 

 all sorts of conditions and modes of life, more or less beyond one's 

 control. A good crop of pneumonia and kindred diseases seems as- 

 sured for the winter season, when the tax on vitality is severest, and 

 indoor life in unsanitary quarters supplies the opportunity. This 

 seems almost sufficient to explain the present situation in our large 

 cities, which has brought about the organization of the Pneumonia 

 Commission through the New York Board of Health. In this con- 

 nection, Dr. Herman M. Biggs, the general medical officer of the 

 board, has stated, that the number of victims claimed yearly by pneu- 

 monia increases steadily and alarmingly. In New York City alone 

 during the first six months of 1905 one third the total number of 



