CHAPTER VIII 



THE BACTERIA OF CONSUMPTION, OR 

 TUBERCULOSIS 



MORE than one seventh of all the people 

 who die are carried off prematurely 

 by consumption, or tuberculosis. But it is 

 only recently that we have had any definite 

 knowledge as to its cause. For a great while 

 physicians have known a great deal about the 

 disease. They have become very expert in 

 detecting its advent and in tracing its course, 

 and came long ago to know but too well 

 whither it tended. It was usually regarded 

 as hopeless, and its treatment was entered 

 into rather for humanity's sake than in the 

 expectation of inducing a cure. To-day the 

 aspect of affairs has greatly altered. We 

 know through the illuminating discoveries 

 of Koch that tuberculosis is caused, and 



83 



