418 ON THE ORIGIN, PROPAGATION, 



and the means of disposing of phlegm ought to be at 

 hand. The directors of factories, and the masters of 

 workshops, as well as the workmen themselves, ought 

 to make sure that, under no circumstances, shall 

 spitting on the floor or into a pocket-handkerchief be 

 tolerated. 



One final word is still to be spoken. If we are to 

 fight this enemy with success, the public must make 

 common cause with the physician. The fear of spread- 

 ing panic among the community, and more particularly 

 among hospital nurses, must be dismissed. Unless 

 nurses, patients, and public, realise with clear intelli- 

 gence the dangers to which they are exposed, they will 

 not resort to the measures necessary for their protection. 

 Should the sources of infection be only partially re- 

 moved, the marked diminution of a malady, which now 

 destroys more human beings than all other infective 

 diseases taken together, will, as pointed out by Cornet, 

 be " our exceeding great reward." 



Dr. Cornet's great investigation, of which some ac- 

 count is given above, is entitled, " The Diffusion of 

 Tubercle Bacilli exterior to the Body." It was published 

 in 1888. A shorter, though not less important inquiry, 

 on " The Mortality of the Nursing Orders," was pub- 

 lished in 1889. These two memoirs will be found per- 

 manently embodied in the fifth and sixth volumes of the 

 Zeitschrift fur Hygiene. From a former paragraph it 

 will be seen that Cornet's attention had been directed to 

 those who, more than others, come closely into contact 

 with infectious diseases, and that he throws doubt upon 

 the notion that neither physicians nor nurses suffer from 

 this proximity. No definite and thorough inquiry had, 

 however, been made into this grave question. In face 



