160 MICROBES AXD HEALTH. 



measures of isolation and disinfection are properly en- 

 forced, the disease, as is held, by some, will be extermi- 

 nated in a single generation. By common consent it 

 must be admitted that if this doctrine of the stamp- 

 ing out of this disease is correct it should be regarded 

 as a sacred trust, and should receive the sanction and 

 encouragement of every loyal citizen. If, on the other 

 hand, it is erroneous, it is equally clear that those who 

 are afflicted with the disease are terribly wronged and 

 injured and that the public is deceived concerning the 

 true nature, cause and prevention of consumption. 



'Thysicians who are constantly exposed to consump- 

 tion are much less subject to this disease than are others 

 who scarcely come in contact with it, except by chance. 

 The statistics of the Brompton Hospital for Consump- 

 tion, in London, show that during a period of thirty- 

 six years not a single clearly authenticated case of con- 

 sumption arose within its walls among its twenty-nine 

 physicians and assistant physicians, its one hundred 

 and fifty clinical assistants and its one hundred and 

 one nurses, of which there existed a health record. The 

 statistics of Friedrichshain Hospital, in Berlin, as fur- 

 nished by Dr. Fiirbinger, demonstrate that during a 

 period of sixteen years out of 459 male nurses there 

 were 4 (2 of whom were tuberculous before entering); 

 of 339 female nurses, there were 2; of 83 physicians, 

 there were 3 (1 of whom entered with the disease) who 

 became consumptive. Of 108 Victoria sisters, who 

 were engaged as nurses in the same institution from 

 two to five and a half years, only one became consump- 

 tive. 



