624 MAN AS A CONQUEROR 



Tuberculosis is unfortunately tied up with social conditions and for 

 this reason is extremely difficult to combat. Ten times as much 

 tuberculosis has been found in the heads of families earning less 

 than $500 a year as among those earning $700 and over. The 



disease is not inherited, 

 1940 ? death rates ^ut where people live 



fSOfSn '^^^siZ^°'^ crowded together with 



lyjJ Zj51[MftMi\ tuV®rculos'is other tubercular people, 



1930 liVBvIt it is extremely hard to 



1925 If SNIltD prevent infection, espe- 



AAAARAAAAAAn cially it they live m 



1 920 VVVhUIIIIIHI homes with little ventila- 



1915 OOQt&IIINIIIM) fr I" New York City 



1910 ossfloniiiiiititc ht\s"Lr:u 



1905 9@SI@lllllllf lltltO ^h^^h were known to 



1900 omiitiiiiitiiiiii) ^rl^tzz 



What factors are responsible for the steady tuberculosis existed there 

 dechne in deaths from tuberculosis ? 



year after year. Tuber- 

 culosis is also closely related to certain trades, especially the so-called 

 dusty trades. Any work that lowers the resistance through poor 

 ventilation, long hours, insufficient nutrition, and dusty occupations 

 paves the way for tuberculosis. The chief factor in combating 

 tuberculosis is keeping up a high resistance to all diseases. This 

 is obtained only through proper amounts of sleep and rest, plenty of 

 fresh air, proper food with a large amount of milk, and, particularly, 

 freedom from worry. Since all of these conditions are difficult to 

 obtain in the lower social scale, it is obvious why the disease is so 

 hard to combat. A form of vaccination, the Calmette vaccine, is 

 now being used with some degree of success, especially in the case 

 of young children. 



In the year 1920, influenza and pneumonia were responsible for 

 twice as many deaths in the United States as were caused by tubercu- 

 losis. Those of us who remember the frightful epidemic which lasted 

 from September, 1918, to June, 1919, have reason to dread influenza. 

 There have been over fourteen epidemics of influenza and pneumonia 

 since the sixteenth century. In the great outbreak during the World 

 War there were 635,000 deaths from these diseases as against a normal 

 mortality of 135,000 for the same period. Of a total population of 



