AND PREVENTION OF PHTHISIS. 417 



by the inhalation of a contagium derived from the 

 diseased portions of his own lung, he may infect the 

 healthy portions. ' If, therefore,' says Cornet, ' the 

 phthisical patient, to avoid the guilt of self-murder, is 

 compelled to exercise the utmost caution, he is equally 

 bound to do so for the sake of his family, his children, 

 and his servants and attendants. He must bestow the 

 most anxious care upon the disposal of his sputum. 

 Within doors he must never, under any circumstances, 

 spit upon the floor, or employ his pocket-handkerchief 

 to receive his phlegm, but always and everywhere must 

 use a proper spittoon. If he is absolutely faithful in 

 the carrying out of these precautions, he may accept 

 the tranquillising assurance that he will neither injure 

 himself nor prove a source of peril to those around 

 him.' 



Though mindful of the danger of interfering with 

 social arrangements, Cornet follows out his preventive 

 measures in considerable detail. Hand-spittoons, with a 

 cover, he recommends, not with the view of preventing 

 evaporation, but because flies have been known to carry 

 infection from open vessels. Without condemning the 

 practice, he does not favour the disinfection of sputum 

 by carbolic acid and other chemicals. He deprecates 

 the use of sand or sawdust in spittoons. On aesthetic 

 grounds, he would have the spittoons of those who can 

 afford it made ornamental, but earthenware saucers, 

 such as those placed under flower-pots, are recommended 

 for the use of the poor. The consumptive patient must 

 take care that not only in his own house, but also in 

 the offices and workshops where he may be engaged, he 

 is supplied with a proper spittoon. In public buildings, 

 as in private houses, the corridors and staircases ought 

 to be well supplied with these necessaries. The ascent 

 of the stairs often provokes coughing and expectoration, 



