THE HYGIENIC TREATMENT OF CONSUMPTION. 81 



had occasion repeatedly to remark that if, from a few days' rain, the 

 consumptives under my care were confined to their homes, instead of 

 being able to take the daily out-door breathing invariably prescribed 

 under such circumstances, the aggravation of symptoms was always 

 marked and universal. The appetite fell off, the debility became 

 greater, the mind was less buoyant, the local mischief increased. The 

 patients, too, previously accustomed to a full dose of the air-food, were 

 not ignorant of the cause of these changes, for reduction in air is felt 

 as quickly as reduction in common diet. Seeing these evils, then, I 

 have long since thrown off the alarm about bad weather, and have or- 

 dered every patient to seize, even in an inclement day, each gleam of 

 sunshine, for the purpose of getting out for a breath of fresh air. The 

 result of this practice has been most gratifying in all cases where the 

 courage of the patient has admitted of its application. 



Dr. Jackson, in speaking of out-door life, in much the same terms 

 as the above, dwells very properly on the necessity of securing for 

 this plan the confidence of the patient. The treatment " should not 

 be done rashly, but boldly." If possible, "the patient should be 

 made to have faith in it ; for without this he is not likely to pursue 

 it as far as he can, and then he will not derive from it all the benefit 

 which it can afford." This is the fact ; but the difficulty is at once 

 got over if, under favorable conditions, the invalid can be induced to 

 try the measure for a few days. Once tried, there is no fear, in the 

 majority of cases, of its being given up, except in instances where 

 the disease is too far advanced, or where, from the poverty of the pa- 

 tient, the pursuit of a sedentary occupation must needs be followed, 

 even to the last days of existence. The benefit derived from this' 

 treatment is indeed so obvious, the debility is so much better borne, 

 the relish for food is so much more markedly felt, the nights are 

 passed with so much less of restlessness and cough, and with such 

 an increase of sleep, that the sufferer soon instinctively feels the value 

 of his instructions, and follows them out even more punctually than 

 those which relate to the taking of medicines. 



As much of the day, then, as is possible should be spent by the 

 consumptive in the open air, and in places where the air is least im- 

 peded and least corrupted. When he is compelled to keep the house, 

 the necessary precautions must again be taken for procuring a free 

 admission of the atmosphere. No cozy room with a temperature of 

 70°, with every crevice closed, and with an atmosphere in a dead calm 

 and laden with impurities, should be permitted. But the temperature 

 should be 60° Fahr. ; the fire, if there be one, should be in an open 

 grate ; and by a free chimney-vent, secured by an Arnott valve, the 

 freest possible current of air should be kept circulating through the 

 room. If the patient is cold, let him approach the fire, but let him 

 not labor under the popular and fatal error that the way to obtain 

 animal warmth is to shut out the air and roast the body. The heat 

 VOL. xxx. — 6 



