354 TUBERCULOSIS AS A TYPE OF BACTERIAL DISEASE 



and the Factory and Workshop Act are therefore matters of great 

 importance in the prevention of this disease. 



3. Food has also been shown to be infected in a greater or less 

 degree with the virus of tuberculosis, and though the disease is not 

 spread so greatly through this channel as in other ways, it is never- 

 theless necessary to protect the pubhc from tuberculous food, especially 

 meat and milk. The Public Health Acts (1875 and 1891) give 

 powers of seizure of diseased food, and the Dairy, Milkshops, and 

 Cowsheds Order of 1885, and its amendments, operate in the direction 

 of the control of the milk supply. These latter Orders should be 

 unified, and much more vigorously enforced than has been the case in 

 the past. 



4. Lastly, there are certain measures of great importance wMch 

 concern the avoidance of infection from diseased persons. The con- 

 sumptive is the chief agent in the spread of consumption. Therefore, 

 anything which lessens the degree of his contagiousness is a means of 

 prevention. The first requirement is evidently knowledge of the 

 existence of cases of phthisis, and tliis may be obtained in various 

 ways, e.g., through hospitals or private practice, through poor-law 

 institutions, or by voluntary or compulsory notification. Voluntary 

 notification was first adopted in this country by the Local Authorities 

 in Brighton, Manchester, and Finsbury, and is now iu vogue in many 

 districts. The results are not wholly satisfactory, but are better than 

 no information at all. Compulsory notification has recently been 

 instituted for an experimental period in Sheffield.* The cases of 

 phthisis being known, the next steps are supervision, disinfection of 

 sputum, house, and clothes, and, if practicable, isolation and treatment 

 of suitable cases. Sanatoria act partly as therapeutic agencies, partly 

 as prophylactic agencies. Much is now being done in civilised 

 countries in these directions, and many sanitary authorities carry out 

 disinfection regularly, and make various efforts to prevent consump- 

 tives infecting their neighbours or feUow-workmen. 



Still, after all, the prevention of phthisis is in no small degree a 

 matter of personal hygiene and precautions to be exercised by the 

 people themselves. 



Hence we hail with satisfaction the recent endeavours to educate 

 public opinion. In order to simplify this matter, we have placed 

 in a footnote a series of statements embodying some of the chief 

 facts which every individual in our crowded communities should 

 know.f 



* Sheffield Corporation Act, 1903, sect. 45. 



t 1. Tuberculosis is a disease mainly aflFecting the lungs (consumption, deoline, 

 phthisis) of young adults and the bowels of inftints (tabes mesenterica). It may 

 aiFect any part of the body, and its manifestations are very various. It also affects 

 animals, particularly cattle, by whom it may be transmitted to man. 



2. Its direct cause is a microscopic vegetable cell, known as the B. tuber- 



