96 



BACTERIOLOGY. 



Tuber- 

 culin 



Public 

 Health 

 measures 

 adopted 

 in the 

 crusade 

 against 

 tubercu- 

 losis 



Tuberculin administered in increasing doses, too 

 treatment small to< cause a reaction and at fixed intervals, de- 

 velops a tolerance for the poison, and so an immunity. 

 This method of treatment is being widely used, and 

 while the results are not prompt, the consensus of 

 opinion is that it exerts a beneficial effect on the course 

 of the disease. 



During the last ten years great efforts have been 

 made to check the ravages of this disease; in fact, a 

 crusade has been carried on that has become world- 

 wide. Among the measures that have been advocated 

 are the registration of all cases of tuberculosis by 

 departments of health, the establishment of institu- 

 tions sufficient to care for the advanced cases, dispen- 

 saries where suspected cases may be examined and sub- 

 sequently visited by nurses who instruct the sick in the 

 proper way to disinfect the sputum, stools, and urine, 

 and the disinfection of all houses occupied by tuber- 

 culous patients before being reoccupied. More gen- 

 eral measures, such as better sanitary conditions in 

 factories, schools, and dwellings, have been brought to 

 the attention of the public, and have created a public 

 sentiment that is now bearing fruit. As a result of 

 this crusade, it is not too much to expect that the 

 death rate from tuberculosis will be materially reduced, 

 and that the spread of the disease will be checked. 



THE BACILLUS OF LEPROSY. 



The bacillus causing leprosy was found by Han- 

 sen, a Norwegian, in 1871, in the nodules of leprous 



