Vol. XXV. No. 11.] 
POPULAR SCIENCE T^EWS. 
171 
fl^cdieine and pharmaey. 
[Science.] 
THE CURE OF CONSUMPTION.* 
No words of mine are required to impress upon 
you the great importance of this subject, to ex- 
press the intense interest that is universally taken 
in it, or to point out the far-reaching influence its 
public establishment will have upon scientific 
investigation. But it is, perhaps, necessary for 
me to say that I fully recognize the grave respon- 
sibility that rests upon any one who makes the 
statements I am about to make, and that I am 
completely justified in accepting that responsi- 
bilitj-. Perhaps it may be within the recollection 
of some of those present that at the Birmingham 
and Manchester meetings of the association in 
1886-87 I read papers giving the results of a series 
of investigations on consumption and chest types. 
I showed in the former paper that consumption 
was directly produced by the conditions that tend 
to reduce the breathing capacity below a certain 
point in proportion to the remainder of the body, 
and contended that it could be both prevented 
and completely recovered from by the adoption of 
measures that were based upon that inteipretation 
of its nature. In the latter I adduced evidence 
that proved that the size and shape of the chest 
after birth solely depended upon the conditions to 
which it was subjected, that there was the same 
relationship between the size and shape of the 
other parts of the body and the conditions to 
which they were subjected, and that this law 
obtained in the animal and vegetable kingdoms. 
The research, as a whole, showed that there was a 
complete series of types that had on the one hand 
extreme consumption, and on the other the finest 
type of health, directly produced by the conditions 
to which they had been submitted. And I re- 
ferred to the immense importance of the issues 
that were raised, both from a practical and scien- 
tific point of view. 
At that time the evidence was mainly derived 
from experiments, although I had some most 
valuable and significant practical experience, and 
I found the general opinion was that It would be 
extremely difficult, if not impossible, to practically 
apply that knowledge. Since then, however, the 
practical evidence of the relationship between 
conditions and types of chest has been irrefutably 
established at the Polytechnic. By the applica- 
tion of that know^ledge in the ordinary routine of 
daily life, the members of the Polytechnic Physi- 
cal Development Society, although engaged for 
many hours daily in all sorts of trades and occu- 
pations, some of them under vei-y unfavorable 
conditions, have shown how greatly the chest 
girth, its range of movement, the vital capacity, 
and the power of inspiration and expiration can 
be increased. Last year, at Leeds, I gave the 
measurements of one hundred members. If you 
will refer to the report you will find the average 
increase of the chest girth was 1% inches, that of 
the third class being VA inches, the second 
2% inches, and the first class .3% inches. At a 
subsequent examination for the society's gold 
medals and certificates, the first three members 
had obtained an increase of 6%, 5, and 4% respec- 
tively, and although some of our best members 
are constantly leaving the Polytechnic, and new 
ones joining us, I am glad to say there has been a 
average increase of one-quarter of an inch in all 
»An address by Godfrey W. Hambleton, M. D., President 
of the Polytechnic Physical Development Society, at the 
meeting of the British Association for tlie Advancement of 
Science, Cardiff, August, 1891. 
classes. Many of the members are engaged In the 
trades that have a high rate of mortality from 
consumption, and not a few of them would have 
long been in the ranks of the consumptives had it 
not been for the efficacy of the directions given 
them by the society, — that is to say, the practica- 
bility and certainty of the measures that are 
necessary to secure the prevention of consumption 
have been fully demonstrated. 
Whilst one part of the work has been practically 
applied at the Polytechnic, the practical applica- 
tion of the other has been equally successsul in 
the amelioration and, where the disease was not 
too extensive, the cure of consumption. I cannot 
enter into medical details here, but I may state 
that by the cure of consumption I mean the pos- 
session and appearance of sound health, natural 
breathing from base to apex, a well-formed and 
fairly developed chest, a good range of movement, 
and vital capacity that have stood at least a 
twelve montlis' test. The cases that wer« referred 
to at Manchester in 1887 as having completely 
recovered remain well, and those that have subse- 
quently recovered went through last winter with- 
out giving the slightest indication of a relapse. 
Tnere has been no relapse in any of these cases ol 
cure, and no failure. Up to the present the mor- 
tality of all the cases has been under ten per cent., 
and has been limited to those who were most 
extensively diseased, and who were, in fact, in 
extremis. There are others who have derived great 
benefit, and some of them will ere long take their 
places in the ranks of the cured. One of the 
latter has stolen a march upon me. He presented 
himself for life assurance, was accepted as a first- 
class life, and obtained a reduction in his premium. 
He is unquestionably well, but he would not 
allow my twelve montlis" test. There is not a 
sufticient number of cases to compare with the 
statistics obtained at the Polytechnic, but I may 
say the increii^e in the chest girth ranges from 
\Vi inches to over 4 inclies. We have chest girths 
of over .38 and 39 inches, the range of movement 
varies from 3 to 6 inches, and the vital capacity 
greatly exceeds in some cases Hutchinson's stan- 
dard of health. 
I have now shown you that the results that had 
been experimentally obtained have also been 
equally well obtained in the practical application 
of that research, that each part of the investiga- 
tion confirms the other, and that they togcthei 
form a complete and harmouious whole. Conse- 
tiucntly I have also shown you that we now 
have before us and within our grasp the real cure 
for consumption, that we can eftectuall3' prevent 
its pi-oduction, and that by united and continuous 
action in both directions we can, ere long, practi- 
cally remove this curse of civilization from our 
midst. 
What steps are to be taken to secure the gi-eat 
benefits of this advance in knowledge? Let me. 
in the first place, remind you that consumption is 
a disease of civilization, a part of the process of 
evolution by which an adjustment is made between 
the body and the work it has to perform under 
the ever changing conditions of advancing civili- 
zation, by the removal of those who have a body 
incapable of that work, and that it is directly 
produced by the habits and surroundings that 
tend to reduce the breathing capacitj' below a cer- 
tain iioint in proportion to the remainder of the 
body. Obviously, the first thing that has to be 
done is to prevent the production of this disease, 
and for that purpose we must see that the body is 
used to the extent its size demands, and that the 
work it has to perform is carried on under condi- 
tions that are favorable to the body, — that is to 
say, we must so arrange our habits and surround- 
ings that their tendency as a whole is to develop 
the lungs. Each act of man, each factor in his 
environment, tends either in his favor or against 
him. We must avoid as far as possible — and 
where that is not practicable we must counteract 
their action — those that tend to reduce the 
breathing capacity. Close, badly ventilated, or 
hot rooms, the inhalation of any kind of dust, the 
habit of taking small quantities of alcohol (termed 
"nipping"), stooping, positions that cramp or 
impede the "full and free movement of the chest, 
the corset, or tight fitting clothes, overloading the 
body with clothes, etc., are examples of such con- 
ditions. And we must place ourselves as far as 
possible under the conditions that tend to develop 
the lungs. We should spend as much time as 
possible in some form of active exeicise in the 
open air, live in rooms that are in direct free com- 
munication with the external air night and day, 
summer and winter, and keep their temperature 
down. We ought to have the clothing quite easy 
over the chest at full inspiration, wear wool next 
the skin, take a tub daily, hold the body erect 
with the chest thiown well forward and the 
shoulders held well back, get into the habit of 
taking deep inspirations followed by full expira- 
tions, and breathe through the nose. And we 
should go in for singing, swimming, gymastics, — 
Ling's system by preference, — and for one or, 
better still, several forms of athletic sports, rise 
early, and maintain the temperature of the body 
by muscular exercise. I have briefly indicated 
the conditions that are favoralile or unfavorable 
to lung developivient, and to that I will only add 
that measurements by the tape, the .spirometer, 
and the manometer should be regularly taken, 
recorded, and confpared with the standards that 
indicate a fully developed chest, and that it is the 
plain duty of each mw. Of us to see that he stands 
well in that respect, for we can protect ourselves 
from the possibility of an attack of consumption 
by securing and maintaining a lung capacity far 
above the point at wliicb tlie disease oi'iginates. 
The second direction in which we must take 
action, it we mean to remove this curse of civili- 
zation from our midst, is to recognize early, and 
that promptly and adequately, those who have 
the great misfortune to be its victims. This is 
the state w ith v\hicb we have to deal here. The 
lungs are being progressively destroyed by a 
process of irritation caused by more work being 
thrown upon them than they are able to efl'ect, 
and this inability has been produced by their 
having been and still being subject to conditions 
that tend to reduce their capacity; and further, 
luring the progress of these events, the other 
organs have become involved by attempting to 
perform compensatory work, with the result that 
the general health is more or less seriously com- 
promised. Consequently, in order to adequately 
deal with this state of things, we must treat 
consumption upon the following principles : To 
establish an equilibrium between the amount of 
interchange required to be effected and that 
eft'ected, to enable the other organs of the body to 
perform their ordinary functions, to restore to the 
lungs their power of adjustment to their external 
conditions, and to obtain the above without 
producing indications of friction. That is, in 
other words, we must arrest this process of irrita- 
tion, restore the general health, and develop the 
lungs to the required amount, in order to eft'ect 
the cure of consumption. I will now brieflj' indi- 
cate the method of applying the principles above 
laid down. We must, to arrest this process of 
irritation, remove the conditions that impede the 
