706 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTIOX I. 



The results so far tend to show that in early cases the opsonic 

 treatment is very valuable, in intermediate cases it is sometimes also 

 useful, but in advanced cases it is of no use. We have, however, 

 devised a method by which we hope to make the treatment useful 

 also to some advanced cases. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



Let me now summarise the substance of this paper in the following 

 conclusions : — 



1. Consumption is a contagious disease, and every case that arises 

 has been contracted directly or indirectly from a human being or — more 

 rarely — from a bovine animal that is suffering from the disease. 



2. All persons suffering from consumption are not capable of 

 conveying the disease to others in an equal degree. Those who practice 

 strict rules of personal cleanliness and disinfection rarely distribute 

 the disease to others, while those whose sputum is free from bacilli 

 are incapable of conveying it. 



3. Persons suffering from active consumption are not equally 

 dangerous ; but those who have galloping consumption (acute caseating 

 pneumonia) are extremely dangerous. 



4. Every case of consumption should be notified to the Board of 

 Health, and if in the infectious stage he should be isolated until the 

 officer appointed by the board is satisfied that the patient has been 

 properly instructed in the precautions that must be taken to prevent 

 contagion, and until he is satisfied that the patient can be trusted to 

 carry out these precautions. Certificates should be granted to those 

 who are free from infection. 



5. Consumption in the early stages is a curable disease, and the 

 cure consists in sanatorium treatment, assisted, perhaps, by injections 

 of tuberculin after the method of Sir A. E. Wright. 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES. 



Plate I. 



Fig. 1. — Sputum of an advanced consumptive. It contains many 

 germs, and the patient is therefore a source of danger. 



Fig. 2. — Sputum of another advanced consumptive. It is free 

 irom germs, and the patient is therefore harmless. 



Fig. 3. — The tuberculin test. The temperature chart of a patient 

 free from tubercular disease, showing no rise of temperature after an 

 injection of tuberculin. 



Plate II. 



Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7. — The positive tuberculin test. Showing no rise 

 of temperature for several months, and a considerable rise following 

 immediately upon an injection of tuberculin. The temperature 

 rapidly falls to normal again. 



