128 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 63 



by day and night the outer air uncontaminated by others occupying 

 the same room or dwelHng. Devices suitable for any window may 

 be obtained. It is thus possible in a hospital ward to have half a 

 dozen patients breathe the outer air while the ward is kept warm. 

 The tent can come over the end of the regular hospital bed so that 

 patients sleeping in wards where miscellaneous cases are received, 

 may nevertheless have the full benefit of the outer air. By means 

 of thick celluloid the patient may be readily seen. The celluloid 

 window may be raised to give the patient drink and nourishment. 



Plate 93 shows the Walsh Window Tent applied to the window 

 of an ordinary dwelling.' 



CHAPTER X. CONCLUSIONS. 



There are some people, especially those of a skeptical or combative 

 tendency, who refuse to admit that climate plays any important role 

 in the cure of tuberculosis. One of these who was formerly in charge 

 of a widely known institution for the study and treatment of tuber- 

 culosis has said: " I desire to go on record as believing that there 

 is no therapeutic value in climate." This same physician probably 

 owes his life to the fact that thirty-five years or more ago he left 

 the city and removed to the mountains of Pennsylvania for the relief 

 of a pulmonary disease and recovered. Such an attitude is a study 

 for the psychologists and would hardly seem deserving of serious 

 attention, except that we hear such statements as this: "If a case 

 of consumption cannot be cured in its home climate it cannot be 

 cured anywhere." 



I think there is no doubt that if any of us were told that he is 

 in the incipient stage of tuberculosis he would immediately take steps 

 to familiarize himself with the line of treatment which would, before 

 much time had elasped, involve leaving Boston, New York, Phila- 

 delphia, or Chicago, as the case might be, and so live as to enjoy 

 what air and sunshine and other atmospheric features might afford. 



One reason why home climates, if such a term may be permissible, 

 have grown in favor is that it has been found necessary to estab- 

 lish a large number of State sanatoria, or at least to seek aid for 

 private sanatoria from some of our State legislatures. It is a matter 

 of expediency to have such sanatoria and legislators must be con- 

 vinced that good results or, if necessary, the best results, can be 

 obtained close at hand. We are all heartily in favor of such institu- 



^ For the history of this tent see Knopf and McLaughlin, N. Y. Med. Journ., 

 IQOS, Vol. 81, 425. 



