Tuberculosis (international congress) : copy of report of Sir Herbert Maxwell and P.H. Pye-Smith ... / presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty.

  • Maxwell, Herbert Eustace, 1845-1937.
Date:
1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Tuberculosis (international congress) : copy of report of Sir Herbert Maxwell and P.H. Pye-Smith ... / presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    2. That tlio most frequent and dangerous mode of infection by the specitic bacillus in adults is by its admission to the lungs anil throat (including both windpipe and tonsils). 8. That the vehicle by which the bacillus is transmitted from a sick to a healthy adult is, in the great majority of cases, the phlegm coughed up. This, in the form of “ spray ” may occasion- ally gain entrance to a bystander’s throat, and Avhen dried up and turned to dust, it may be inhaled with the air into the lungs. So long as the mucus spat up remains moist, it is, from physical causes, scarcely transmissible. (Fliigge, Frilnkel, 1st day.) It is tenacious of life, and of its destructive powers; but is deprived of both, after a short but variable ]jeriod, by free exposure to the air, by the heat of boiling Avater or of fire, and by sunlight. 4. That another important vehicle of infection is milk, either occasionally by accidental defilement with moist sputum from a consumptive patient, or frequently by young children drinking the milk of coavs affected Avitli tuberculous disease of the udder. (Obermliller on Infection by Butter, 2nd day of Congress.) The bacillus of tubercle thus conveyed into the mouth may set up tuberculous inflammation, particularly in the tonsils, or it may survive the action of gastric digestion and produce grave disease of the intestines. (Frankel of Halle, 2nd day of Congress.) o. That a third, though far less frequent mode of tuberculous infection is by eating meat—Le., muscle and fat—Avhich is con- taminated from tuberculous disease of the lymph-glands and other parts, and has been imperfectly cooked. Other methods by Avhich the skin, for instance, is infected are less frequent, and also less dangerous than those above mentioned. (V,irchoAv, 3rd day of Congi’ess.) 6. That, Avhile it is iioav proved that the specific bacillus is present in every case of tuoerculous disease—Avhether of the lungs (consumption, phthisis, decline), lymph glands (scrofula), brain (brain fever, tuberculous meningitis), abdomen (tabes mesenterica, consumption of the boAvels, tuberculous peritonitis), joints (white swelling, tuberculous synovitis, and suppuration of hip and other joints), bones (caries of the spine, Pott’s disease, &c.), and other organs (Addison’s disease, &c.)—^}’et there is no doubt that of the two conditions Avhich ahvays make up a disease (the external disturbance and the internal result of that disturbance), the latter depends on the condition of the host as much as upon the activity of the infecting parasite. Some specific disea.scs, like small-pox and sypliilis, produce grave symptoms in all but those avIio are protected, i.e., rendered more or less completely “immune” by a previous attack of the disease—syphilis m the one case, small-pox, or the mild and modified form known as coAv-pox, in the other.