1 Noy., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 84.1 
For that purpose I do not know of anything comparable to the grape 
cure (by following which a lady gained 20 lh. in weight in three weeks’ time in 
the Roma district-—H.A.T.) When the weight of the patient increases, it is a 
good sign ; when it decreases, it is a bad sign, whatever may be the other 
symptoms. 
To attain that end many obstacles have to be removed: dyspepsia, fever, 
hemoptysia, inflammations, nervous sur-excitation or apathy, and also undesir- 
able moral influences. The consumptive patient is seldom in a well-balanced 
moral state. He usually oscillates between exaggerated optimism and pessi- 
mism. The physician must display great patience and prudence, but act also 
with firmness. Not unfrequently he will have to make use of chemical 
remedies and hydrotherapia. 
For centuries past it had been remarked that a sojourn in a mild, 
uniform climate had a beneficial effect on consumptive patients, provided they 
could live in the open air. Gradually it became a sort of fashion to send such 
patients to all places renowned for their beauty and good climate: In recent 
years, however, it has been found that climate could not do much by itself. 
The inhabitants of Madeira, of the Riviera, also those of the city of Mexico— 
which is situated at an altitude of 2,280 metres (7,524 feet)—are very much 
subjected to tuberculous consumption. A. methodical, rational hygienic treat- 
ment has more influence than any climate. In consequence of that confirma- 
tion, sanatoria were established on the coasts of England, of France, Italy, and 
on the hills of Germany. The results proved to be very encouraging. 
In 1885 a young country physician, Dr. Spengler, then residing at Davos, 
a high valley in the Swiss Alps, had remarked that many of the inhabitants 
who had become consumptives in foreign lands would quickly recover by 
spending a winter in their native village. He induced a couple of his friends 
who were affected with the disease to try a sojourn with him at Davos. The 
season presented the usual characteristics of winter on high mountains. The 
air was cold in the shade, but warm and enjoyable in the sun, quite pure, 
invigorating, and exciting appetite. They both recovered. The fact becoming 
known, they were soon followed by others, and now Davos has become the 
largest sanatorium for consumptives in the world, and more than 2,000 patients 
enjoy there all the resources of medical science and hygiene. Soon after the 
arrival of the patient the cough diminishes, fever abates, appetite increases. 
Improvements and complete cures are there much more numerous than in 
sanatoria situated on plains and in valleys. Other similar stations have been 
established at St. Moritz, at Arosa, and more recently, on a large scale ton, at 
Leysin in the Canton de Vaud. The figures of those sanatoria are summed up 
thus by Spengler :— 
Complete cures ... 32 per cent. Improving, 14 per cent. 
Still under treatment, 19 7) Deaths... 35 2 
The curative effect of a mountain climate seems to be intimately connected 
with the influence exercised by altitude on the composition of the blood. In 
1889 the celebrated French scientists, Paul Bert and Viaut, discovered that the 
number of red globules in the blood, which is from 4,000,000 to 5,000,000 
per cubic millimeter in people living on plains and in valleys, increases 
to from 6,000,000 to 7,000,000 in people who live in higher altitudes. ‘That 
increase in the number of globules seems to be due to the rarefaction of the 
air to which it is proportional. It results in an increase of weight and strength 
which usually ensures a cure. 
‘To sum up, we can avoid tuberculosis by fulfilling all the conditions of a 
strict hygiene, pure air, a clean abode, pure water, food sound and in sufficient 
quantity, in reasonable proportion of work and rest, and, above all, good morals. 
Any infraction of these rules is sure to be felt sooner or later. ‘To cure con- 
sumption, we must fortify the constitution by all available means. Climate 
alone is of no avail if not supplemented by intelligent therapeutics. A patient 
well cared for on the plains has more chances to recover than one left to him- 
self in the healthiest of mountain climates. 
