_Immunity From Consumption_
By C. L. Topliff
PULMONARY tuberculosis, or consumption, is the most common and dangerous of all diseases, in fact, the public statistics show that more than one tenth of all deaths in the United States result from this disease, while between the ages of fifteen and forty-five the proportion is increased to thirty-three per cent, which means that one death in every three between these ages results from tuberculosis. Dr. Alfred Hillier, secretary of the British National Association for the Prevention of Consumption, has for many years made a close study of this malady. In his new book, he states that “deaths from tuberculosis in England and Wales are estimated to amount yearly to sixty thousand, and in the rest of Europe to a million. In England one half the deaths between the ages of twenty-five and thirty-five are caused by this disease.” It is a well-known fact that tuberculosis is due to the tubercle bacillus, a vegetable micro-organism which is motionless and helpless, but under the proper conditions can grow and reproduce itself very rapidly. It has been estimated that in some cases, two or three thousand millions of tubercle bacilli are discharged in the expectoration from a single case of consumption in the course of twenty-four hours. If such sputum lodges in places where it afterward dries and becomes pulverized, as on the street, floors, carpets, clothing, or handkerchiefs, these germs are liable to float in the air as an invisible dust, making it an easy matter for one to inhale them into his lungs. Every one does inhale them more or less often, but if the lungs are fully developed and in a healthy condition, the germs will not prove harmful. The tubercle bacillus requires an unhealthy tissue and a certain amount of moisture to favor its development, and the lungs are most frequently infected because they are seldom fully developed in the human being, and especially in women. This is due to the fact that the apex or top of the lung is seldom filled with air, and consequently the tissue in that part of the lung becomes weak and unhealthy, for want of use, and makes the best kind of a place for the rapid development of this dangerous germ. For many years the medical profession of the entire world have devoted their thoughts and energies to the discovery of some cure for tuberculosis; but all efforts to cure the disease by drugs have utterly failed, and they now admit that the only thing that can be done is to give the patient plenty of fresh air, and adopt such strict sanitary measures as will prevent the spread of the disease to others. As pulmonary tuberculosis—consumption—is the most common form of this disease, and is due to imperfect development or unhealthy condition of the lungs, why not make all children, and others, immune from the disease, by teaching them how to breathe properly, thus developing every part of their lungs, and making it impossible for the tubercle bacillus to live there? When the disease is once established, it is difficult to cure it, because the patient's vital force is so low that he does not have sufficient power of resistance to repel the disease. Small or unused lung capacity means low vital energy; but when the capacity is increased, the vital force also is increased, as well as the power of endurance, giving the person greater power to resist diseases of any kind. The common nervous breakdown among children, as a result of overwork or too much mental strain, would seldom occur if the lungs were used as nature intended them. The matter of developing the lungs is very simple, and can be accomplished without any extra expense to the city or community. If all physicians would instruct their patients how to breathe properly, and if the boards of health and boards of education would compel all the schools to have their students rise in their seats and practise breathing exercises for a few minutes every morning, at the opening of the school, and at the same time tell them to practise these exercises on rising in the morning and at other times during the day, the result would be that their lungs would soon be in a healthy condition, and they would probably breathe properly during the rest of their lives. If this rule was strictly carried out, the new cases of tuberculosis would soon be greatly reduced, and, in a comparatively short time, tuberculosis would be substantially eradicated from our community. In the incipient stage of the disease, these breathing exercises will assist greatly in effecting a cure. No elaborate breathing exercises or gymnastic movements are necessary to properly develop the lungs, in fact, one simple breathing exercise would be sufficient—the double-breath. This exercise is taken as follows: stand erect, with the hands at the side, in line with the legs; take one long, full breath, hold it for a second, then take another quick, short breath on top of the other breath, and hold all for a second longer, then gradually exhale the air through the nose. All inhalations and exhalations should be through the nose, and not by the mouth. There are a number of breathing exercises which will develop the lungs, but I mention this one as the best of all. Persons who are suffering from this disease, in an advanced stage, should practise the long, deep single breath for some time —several days or weeks—before attempting the double-breath, as the latter is only intended to develop the lungs of those who are not seriously ill. If you will try this double-breath exercise, even once, the extreme top of your lungs will no doubt experience, for the first time, the agreeable sensation of a “breath of fresh air.” It is impossible for any one to contract consumption who will completely fill the air-cells in his lungs with fresh air several times a day.—C. L. Topliff, in Scientific American.