320 Kansas Academy of Science, 



sis occupies its present status, just so long will we find the medical 

 journale teeming with new ideas and extravagant statements. 



We are confronted to-day with the idea of eradication. Work- 

 ing along this line, we find early and prompt action necessary. 

 Every physician should work in harmony with his fellows to secure 

 this end. That class of patients who need a change, and who 

 would be helped by it, should be promptly placed under the best 

 supervision possible. Our methods are slipshod and haphazard, 

 and as a result thousands are forced from their homes at a time 

 when there is not a particle of hope in store for them. This is un- 

 fair to the patient, and cruel in the extreme. There are various 

 reasons why a large class of tuberculuos people cannot go from 

 home. They not only need, but demand, sanitarium privileges at 

 home. Correct environment is an important factor, and should be 

 coupled with proper care, and the very best therapeutics possible in 

 each individual case. Aid Nature, and thus increase her powers of 

 resistance to disease, and perchance destroy the cause. 



Scientific data are constantly accumulating which emphasize 

 ihe danger of injections in tuberculosis. I believe Koch was mis- 

 taken in the premises taken. We find that he made a mistake 

 when he stated that bovine and human tuberculosis were distinct 

 and noncommunicable diseases. The British Royal Commission 

 investigated Koch's theory and stated that the German scientist 

 was wrong in his conclusions. The commission, desiring a fair 

 and correct conclusion, made still further investigations, but ar- 

 rived at the same conclusion, viz., that bovine bacillus is, or may 

 be, introduced into the human body by the use of infected mate- 

 rial. Recent investigation demonstrates the fact that tuberculous 

 material from cattle has the highest virulence for all tested species, 

 and that tuberculous material from man has a much lower viru- 

 lence. These findings are sound, based, as they are, upon positive 

 experimental evidence. 



When we take into consideration the present conditions, coupled 

 with a desire to arrest the fearful death rate from consumption, it 

 will be necessary to interest the general public as well as the pro- 

 fession in all that pertains to the welfare of tubercular cases. Meth- 

 ods of prevention should be thoroughly understood and applied. 

 Educate the masses upon sanitary laws and how to apply them to 

 the best interests of all the people. This would be the most effect- 

 ive way to reach the end desired. It must be secured in the home, 

 in the school; in fact, in all places, public and private. Should 

 the people fail to recognize and practice the things essential to the 

 preservation of life and health, then let the strong arm of the law 

 be brought to bear upon or enforce the principles that should gov- 

 ■ern in these cases. 



