442 TUBERCULOSIS AND ITS PREVENTION 



that the rabbits living in the good environment recovered from 

 the effects of the inoculation. The inoculated rabbits living in 

 poor conditions died within three months from tuberculosis. The 

 rabbits that had not been inoculated but were in the poor envi- 

 ronment did not show tuberculosis, although they were not in 

 good physical condition. Repeating similar experiments, he proved 

 that unsanitary conditions, alone, will not cause tuberculosis ; the 

 germs must be there. He also showed that unfavorable envi- 

 ronments iavov the development of tuberculosis and good living 

 conditions help to check the disease. 



Trudeau, with the help of another doctor, started his sanita- 

 rium at Saranac Lake. He built a number of small cottages and 

 thus started the Cottage Plan of Tuberculosis Sanitariums. He 

 enforced a routine which included plenty of fresh air, rest, good 

 food, and sunlight. This method was revolutionary. Trudeau 

 was the first physician in the United States to teach the impor- 

 tance of fresh air in the treatment of tuberculosis. Since his 

 time numerous sanitariums have been built over the entire world. 



Causative organism. A rod-shaped bacillus is the cause of 

 tuberculosis. There are many types of these bacilli. They 

 attack practically all warm-blooded animals. Most of the tuber- 

 culosis among children under five years of age is of the bovine 

 t}pe. It is the type that attacks cattle and usually is taken in 

 by the child with milk. 



The bacilli of tuberculosis may attack any part of the body but 

 once present the germs are very likely to eventually attack the 

 lungs. They actually feed on and destroy lung tissue. They 

 form little nodules or tubercles filled with a cheesv material and 

 produce poisons or toxins. There is always a toxin called an en- 

 dotoxin produced within the bacillus and probably an exotoxin, 

 an excretion, is given off. A slight tubercular infection almost 

 always occurs in childhood. The normal resistance of the child's 

 body overcomes the disease by either killing the bacilli or keeping 



