Library Collections: Document: Full Text

Chase. -- Change of air, climate, diet and general hygiene.

Dickson. -- Bathing regularly, careful selection of food, regularity of hours for sleep.

Hathaway. -- Proper diet, clothing, habits, climate, &c.

Deane. -- Change of residence, habits of life and mode of living.

Reynolds. -- Not special but general measures, attention to the rules of health, avoiding causes mentioned in Nos. 9, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20 of the circular.

Tracy. -- I am not quite sure that I understand fully the intent of question 3. I know of no specifics, but, at the same time, my impression is that each case calls for special means, according to the peculiar constitution or condition or circumstances of the individual. In some, change of climate; in others, the use of iron; in another, cod-liver oil; in another, alcoholic stimulants; in another, change of circumstances, &c, &c. In all, the use of those means which will tend to health, in both mind and body.

Chapin. -- Judicious food, extra clothing, and removal from all local causes.

Adams. -- In the predisposed, especial attention to all the little precautions; especially in dress.

Smith. -- Life out-doors; dry place of residence; good food, air and clothing.

Nichols. -- Active exercise in the open air; and all the means that have a tendency to develop and strengthen the physical powers.

Spofford. -- Anything that preserves the general health. Be careful about colds, fevers, measles, coughs, &c.

Soule. -- Change of location, in my opinion, has done more to prevent consumption in children of consumptive parents, than all other means combined. In all the cases of consumption occurring in Winthrop (2) since I have lived here, the disease came with the patient from other places; and in some instances, the patient has been very much benefited by the change, and I am by no means prepared to say that an earlier change of location would not have resulted in a complete recovery.

Stone. -- Removal to another and healthy location; living, as much as possible, in the open air; sufficient out-door exercise; liberal diet, and general hygienic measures.

I draw especial attention to the remarks on ill-ventilated apartments in the following letters: --

Parker. -- The principles of hygiene are especially to he attended to -- cleanliness, warm clothing, good, nourishing food, well-ventilated apartments, a plenty of out-door, fair exercise of body and mind, hut neither overtasked. A very frequent and powerful cause in developing, if not in actually causing, consumption, is, in my opinion, a contracted, ill-ventilated sleeping-apartment.

Burr. -- By placing children under the most favorable hygienic influences; regulating their course of study, hours of play, diet and sleep, their sleeping-apartments. We must see that their rooms are well-ventilated, and that proper attention be given to dress. We should insist upon such children wearing three grades of flannel under-garments during the year, -- very thick during the winter months, medium in spring and fall, and a thin, grade during the summer, after the middle of June.

Calkins. -- Dry and pure air, in well-ventilated buildings; nutritious food and ample clothing; out-door life; attention to the slightest attacks of indigestion; and by the use of those medicines best suited to the promotion of digestion and assimilation.

Shay. -- All those agencies which tend to elevate the vitality, as pure air, especially at night; cleanliness; a non-conductor next the skin; sunlight; plenty of nutritious food, especially lean meats and milk; and a chance to get into clean dirt in the country.

Heath. -- Generous diet, warm clothing, pure air, and continued exercise in the open air, have apparently made a strong and healthy boy of my own child, whose mother had hemorrhage from the lungs during gestation, and died of tubercular consumption two and a half years after confinement.

Dwight. -- In my judgment the disease may be prevented frequently, although perhaps not always, by attention to diet, exercise in open air, sunlight, and judicious clothing.

Breed. -- Removal from crowded tenements in cities, to open air on Western farms. Ten or twelve examples.

Brown. -- Principally inunction and attention to diet. Different oils have been used in my practice, generally olive-oil, oil of sweet almonds, or goose-oil. Particular attention has also been directed to the ventilation of sleeping-apartments, and warm clothing for the lower extremities.

Field. -- Exercise out of doors; the breathing of pure air, day and night; wholesome food; and having a good time generally. Re-breathed air, in the young and old, lays the foundation of consumption more than any other cause.

Ward. -- In answer to No. 3, I have written "No." In explanation, I wish to say I know of no special means by which to avert such result. Still I have great faith in general means, i.e., the strict avoidance of all depressing influence, and the use of all available means of improving the general health and strength. This rule, I believe, should be borne in mind in all the stages of the disease, as a preventive, and also as a cure. I believe the disease to be one of debility, and promoted by every means or agency which induces debility. I judge this to be the explanation of the very rapid development of the disease after continued fevers, especially in persons predisposed to tubercular disease. I believe that this one principle, if generally practised, would save many cases (of all ages and conditions) now lost. I am very sure that tonics are the only appropriate treatment (iron especially) for all cases of consumptive disease. I base this opinion upon a pretty extensive use of the preparations of iron, and the results, as compared with any other plan I have yet heard of. Expectorants, although sometimes necessary, should not be relied upon, as is the case with too many, both in and out of the profession.