Sanatoria for Consumptives. By F. Rufenacht Walters, M.D. With an
Introduction by Sir R. D. Powell, Bart., M.A. (Swan Sonnenschein and Co. 10s. 6d.)—The two statement. that con- sumption is preventible and that it is curable indicate what is perhaps the greatest advance made by medicine, as distinct from surgery, in this century. In chaps. 1-16 are treated the general considerations on which the sanatorium should be regulated as to site, construction, methods of treatment, &c. The last of these is not the least important, dealing as it does with the question of cost. The Hohenhonnet establishment coat £660 per bed. The interest on this sum would, allowing for wear and tear, be not less than .250, a considerable sum to begin with. One for poorer patients has been erected at Worms for £170 per bed. At Hohenhonnet the owl of maintenance is about 12s. per diem. At the other end of the scale we have as low a figure as 2s. Ed. Chaps. 17 seq. give particulars of various institutions of this kind throughout the world, three chapters describing those in the 'States, one being devoted to Austria-Hungary, four to France, sixteen to Germany, three to England, and four to other European countries. One notable experiment was made some years ago, when a hotel for this class of patients was erdcted in the Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. What a deadly place to live in We have moved on since then. This is a most laborious and generally admirable treatise.
Previous page
