No. C. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 46:i 



pie about thein, to lodge them better; and this can be done only in 

 suitable hospitals. lUit the thought of attaining this cud by com- 

 pulsion of any kind is ^'cvy far from me; what I want is that the con- 

 sumptives may be enabled to obtain the nursing they need better 

 than they can obtain it now. At present a consumptive in an ad- 

 vanced stage of the disease is regarded as incurable and as an un- 

 suitable inmate for a hospital. The consequence is that he is re- 

 lunctantiy admitted and dismissed as soon as possible. The patient 

 too, when the treatment seems to him to produce no improvement, 

 and the expenses, owing to the long duration of his illness, weigh 

 heavily upon him, is himself animated by the wish to leave the hos- 

 pital soon. That would be altogether altered if we had special hospi- 

 tals for consumptives, and if the patients were taken care of there 

 for nothing, or at least at a very moderate rate. To such hospi- 

 tals they would willingly go; they could be better treated and cared 

 for there than is now the case. I know very well that the execution 

 of the project will have great difficulties to contend with, owing to 

 the considerable outlay it entails. But very much would be gained 

 if, at least in the existing hospitals, which have to admit a great 

 number of consumptives at anj rate, special wards were established 

 for them, in which pecuniary facilities would be offered them. If 

 only a considerable fraction of the whole number of consumptives 

 were suitably lodged in this way, a diminution of infection and con- 

 sequently of the sum-total of tuberculosis could not fail to be the 

 result. 



Permit me to remind you in this connection of what I said 

 about leprosy. In the combating of that disease also great progress 

 has already been made by lodging only a fair number of the patients 

 in hospitals. The only country that possesses a considerable num- 

 ber of special hospitals for tubercular patients is England, and there 

 can be no doubt that the diminution of tuberculosis in England, 

 which is much greater than in any country, is greatlydue to this 

 circumstance. I should point to the founding of special hospitals 

 for consumptives and the better utilization of the already existing 

 hospitals for the lodging of consumptives as the most important 

 measure in the combating of tuberculosis, and its execution opens a 

 wild field of activity to the state, to municipalities, and to private 

 benevolence. There are many people who possess great wealth, and 

 would willingly give of their superfluity for the benefit of their poor 

 and heavily afflicted fellow-creatures, but do not know how to do 

 this in a judicious manner. Here is an opportunity for them to ren- 

 der a real and lasting service by founding Consumption Hospitals or 

 purchasing the right to have a certain number of consumptive 

 patients maintained in special ward^ of other hospitals free of ex- 

 pense. 



