regarding Tuberculosis.

INFORMATION FOR CONSUMPTIVES AND THOSE LIVING WITH THEM

CONSUMPTION IS CHIEFLY CAUSED BY THE FILTHY HABIT OF
SPITTING.--Consumption is a disease of the lungs, which is
taken from others, and is not simply caused by colds, although
a cold may make it easier to take the disease. It is caused by
very minute germs, which usually enter the body with the air
breathed. The matter which consumptives cough or spit up
contains these germs in great numbers--frequently millions are
discharged in a single day. This matter, spit upon the floor,
wall or elsewhere, dries and is apt to become powdered and
float in the air as dust. The dust contains the germs, and thus
they enter the body with the air breathed. This dust is
especially likely to be dangerous within doors. The breath of a
consumptive, except when he is coughing or sneezing, does not
contain the germs and will not produce the disease. A well
person catches the disease from a consumptive only by in some
way taking in the matter coughed up by the consumptive.

Consumption can often be cured if its nature be recognized
early and if proper means be taken for its treatment. In a
majority of cases it is not a fatal disease.

It is not dangerous to live with a consumptive, if the matter
coughed up by him be promptly destroyed. This matter should not
be spit upon the floor, carpet, stove, wall, or sidewalk, but
always, if possible, in a cup kept for that purpose. The cup
should contain water so that the matter will not dry, or
better, carbolic acid in five per cent. watery solution (six
teaspoonfuls in a pint of water). This solution kills the
germs. The cup should be emptied into the water closet at least
twice a day, and carefully washed with boiling water.

Great care should be taken by consumptives to prevent their
hands, face, and clothing from becoming soiled with the matter
coughed up. If they do become thus soiled, they should be at
once washed with soap and hot water. Men with consumption
should wear no beards at all, or only closely cut mustaches.
When consumptives are away from home, the matter coughed up
should be received in a pocket flask made for this purpose. If
cloths must be used, they should be immediately burned on
returning home. If handkerchiefs