Sanitarium for Consumptive Soldiers
So prevalent has become that scourge of the race, consumption, and so imperative the demands for some treatment which will prevent its ravages, that the Secretary of War has deemed it advisable to take some action to impede its progress in the army. Those who enter the army are supposed to be in perfect health at the time they enlist; but many of them soon develop the symptoms of tuberculosis, the germs of which were no doubt in many cases in their systems. The Secretary of War has therefore ordered that a sanitarium for the treatment of consumptive soldiers and officers be established at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, under the personal supervision of Surgeon-General Sternberg; and the newest developments in the treatment of tuberculosis will be introduced. The necessity for such an institution in the army only serves to show what fearful strides disease is making in these, the last days of a worn-out, plague-smitten earth.