396 A HISTORY OF NATIONAL TUBERCULOSIS ASSOCIATION 



to rest content with the scientific knowledge that polluted water and infected 

 milk are potent factors in the spread of typhoid fever, bovine tuberculosis, 

 etc., and that unsanitary houses and low standards of living are largely re- 

 sponsible for the prevalence of tuberculosis, but he must make practical appli- 

 cation of this knowledge. We therefore found him in the front rank and as a 

 leader in the campaign for pure water and milk, removal of slums, and the 

 creation of sanitary houses in the National Capital. As a result of his efforts 

 the Washington Sanitary Housing Companies were organized, which have 

 erected healthful houses at reasonable rentals for over 800 families. 



"Having been the first in America to demonstrate the tubercle bacillus dis- 

 covered by Koch in 1881, and familiar with the cause and prevention of tu- 

 berculosis, it was natural that he should labor long and faithfully in the cam- 

 paign against this disease. He was a charter member of the National Associa- 

 tion and took a deep interest and participated in many discussions at the 

 annual meetings, and at the International Congress on Tuberculosis. As 

 president of the local Association from its organization until his death in 1915, 

 he was the leader of a great educational campaign. He established several 

 dispensaries, urged the erection of the municipal hospital for indigent tubercu- 

 lous patients, and also established a sanatorium for the middle class victims 

 of this disease. He was instrumental in securing the enactment of a law pro- 

 viding for the condemnation of houses unfit for human habitation and the com- 

 pulsory registration of tuberculous patients." 



Thus was the monument dedicated as General Ireland said: 

 "To the memory of a remarkable man, whose name is writ large 

 in the military and scientific annals of this country." 



Professor William H. Welch and his associates on the commit- 

 tee had selected the following sentences to be inscribed on the 

 stone as expressive of the achievements of this remarkable man : 



"Pioneer American Bacteriologist. Distinguished by his studies of the 

 causation and prevention of infectious diseases, by his discovery of the micro- 

 organism causing pneumonia, and scientific investigation of yellow fever, 

 which paved the way for the experimental demonstration of the mode of 

 transmission of this pestilence." 



"Veteran of three wars. Brevetted for bravery in action in the Civil War 

 and Nez Perces War. Served as Surgeon General of the U. S. Army for the 

 period of nine years, including the Spanish-American War. Founder of the 

 Army Medical School. Scientist, author, and philanthropist. M.D., LL.D." 



Surgeon General Sternberg's biography, written by Mrs. 

 Sternberg and published by the American Medical Association,* 

 contains a complete bibliography of the General's writings on 



* George M. Sternberg, a biography, by his wife. American Medical Asso- 

 ciation, Chicago, 1920. 



