THE RESPIRATORY ORGANS 187 



the presence of a consumptive, one should avoid breathing 

 air close to him while he is coughing and should take especial 

 care not to contaminate one's hands or clothing with the 

 sputum of the patient. To guard the public against the dis- 

 ease, there should be rigid insistence upon the carrying out of 

 certain rules to prevent the dissemination of infectious 

 material from the patient. The sputum should be burned. 

 Spitting should not be allowed in public places. The rules 

 given by the Charity Organization of New York are so valu- 

 able that they may be repeated here. 



"Consumption can often be cured if its nature be recognized early and 

 if proper means be taken for its treatment. In a majority of cases it is not 

 a fatal disease. 



"Consumptives are warned against the many widely advertised cures, . 

 specifics and special methods of treatment of consumption. No cure can be 

 expected from any kind of medicine or method, except the regularly accepted 

 treatment, which depends upon pure air, an out-of-door life and nourishing 

 food. 



"Consumption is a disease of the lungs, which is taken from others, 

 and is not simply caused by colds, although a cold may make it easier to 

 take the disease. It is caused by very minute germs, which usually enter 

 the body with the air breathed. The matter which consumptives cough 

 or spit up contains these germs in great numbers frequently millions are 

 discharged in a single day. This matter, spit upon the floor, wall or else- 

 where, dries and is apt to become powdered and Scat in the ah* as dust. 

 The dust contains the germs, and thus they enter the body with the air 

 breathed. This dust is especially likely to be dangerous within doors. 

 The breath of a consumptive does not contain the germs and will not pro- 

 duce the disease. A well person catches the disease from a consumptive 

 only by in some way taking in the matter coughed up by the consumptive. 



" It is not dangerous to live with a consumptive, if the matter coughed 

 up by him be promptly destroyed. This matter should not be spit upon 

 the floor, carpet, stove, wall or sidewalk, but always, if possible, in a cup 

 kept for that purpose. The cup should contain water so that the matter 

 will not dry, or better, carbolic acid in a five per cent water solution (six 

 teaspoonfuls in a pint of water). This solution kills the germs. The cup 

 should be emptied into the water closet at least twice a day, and carefully 

 Washed with boiling water. 



"Great care should be taken by consumptives to prevent their hands. 



