1903.] RAVENEL—WARFARE AGAINST TUBERCULOSIS. ehh 
Comparisons are said to be odious, but in the hope of stirring up 
our people in the United States, I quote the most recent statistics 
of what is being done in Germany, which may be taken as an index 
of the attitude of most of the countries of Europe toward the 
scourge of tuberculosis. 
THE FicHt AGAINST TUBERCULOSIS IN GERMANY. 
According to the Imperial Health Office in Berlin, the deaths 
from tuberculosis are about one-tenth of those of all diseases. In 
1899 the number of patients treated in hospitals in the empire was 
226,000. According to the latest statistics there are at present 57 
public sanatoriums for the tuberculous in Germany, of which 34 are 
located in Prussia, 6 in Bavaria, 2 in Saxony, t in Wurtemberg, 1 
in Hessen, 1 in Sachsen-Weimar, r in Thuringia, 1 in Reichsland, 3 
in Baden, 2 in Brunswick and 5 in the Hansa cities. Besides these 
there are 4 four institutions near the sea—namely, Nordeney, Wyk, 
Gross-Muritz, Zoppot. There are also 23 public sanatoriums nearly 
completed, among these being Buch, near Berlin. The city of 
Berlin has at the present time 3 public sanatoriums—namely, Mal- 
chow, Blankenfelde, Gutergotz. There are also 20 private German 
sanatoriums, and 1 in Davos (Switzerland). Inthe 78 sanatoriums 
for the tuberculous there are 7000 beds. Ifwe calculate that each bed 
is used by four persons in the course of a year, we find that about 
30,000 tuberculous patients annually enjoy the benefit of treatment 
in the sanatoriums. The efforts made in the German Empire to 
combat tuberculosis, both by direct regulations and by general pre- 
ventive measures, are being actively carried on. In particular, the 
Imperial Government, the governments of the different States, the 
executive authorities, the national insurance institutions and the 
municipal governments are seriously and actively participating in 
this work. ‘The result of these efforts, which have been now carried 
on for some years, is already noticeable in a decrease in the number 
of deaths from tuberculosis, which in the future will be still more 
marked (American Medicine, March 21, 1903). 
ARTIFICIAL IMMUNITY AND SERUM-THERAPY. 
For many years constant effort has been made to discover a serum 
or lymph for the specific treatment of tuberculosis, and several such 
- substances have been announced from time to time. All of them 
