454 
CONGRESS ON TUBERCULOSIS. 
There is another measure, closely connected with notification, 
viz., disinfection, which, as already mentioned, must be effected 
when consumptives die or change their residence, in order that 
those who next occupy the infected dwelling may be protected 
against infection. Moreover, not only the dwellings but also 
the infected beds and clothes of consumptives ought to be dis¬ 
infected. . 
A further measure already recognized on all hands as effect¬ 
ive, is the instructing of all classes of the people as to the in¬ 
fectiousness of tuberculosis, and as to the best way of protecting 
one’s self. The fact that tuberculosis has considerabiy diminished 
in almost all civilized states of late is attributable solely to the 
circumstance that knowledge of the contagious character of 
tuberculosis has been more and more widely disseminated, and 
that caution in intercourse with consumptives has increased 
more and more in consequence. If better knowledge of the na¬ 
ture of tuberculosis has alone sufficed to prevent a large number 
of cases, this must serve us as a significant admonition to make 
the greatest possible use of this means, and to do moie and 
more to bring it about that everybody may know the dangers 
that threaten them in intercourse with consumptives. It 
is only to be desired that the instructions may be made shorter 
and more precise than they generally are, and that special 
emphasis be laid on the avoidance of the worst danger of infec¬ 
tion, which is the use of bedrooms and small ill-ventilated 
workrooms simultaneously with consumptives. Of course the 
instructions must include directions as to what consumptives 
have to do when they cough and how they are to treat their 
sputum. 
Another measure, which has come into the foreground of 
late, and which at this moment plays to a certain extent a par¬ 
amount part in all efforts for the combating of tuberculosis, 
works in quite another direction. I mean the founding of san¬ 
atoria for consumptives. 
That tuberculosis is curable in its early stages must be re¬ 
garded as an undisputed fact. The idea of curing as many 
tubercular patients as possible in order to reduce the number of 
those that reach the infectious stage of consumption, and thus 
to reduce the number of fresh cases, was therefore a very natural 
one. The only question is whether the number of persons 
cured in this way will be great enough to exercise an appreci¬ 
able influence on the retrogression of tuberculosis. I will try to 
answer this question in the light of the figures at my disposal. 
