ESSAYS ON CONSUMPTION; Essays on Consumption. By J. E. Squire,
M.D. (The Sanitary Publishing Company. 10s. 6d.)—Sir W. Broadbent assures us in the introduction that Dr. Squire has a right to be heard, as from his position as physician to a special hospital for the treatment of phthisis he has had ample opportunity of trying the different "cures" and comparing their efficacy. His conclusions point to the fact that though they may have their different values, the most important thing of all is good hygiene and pure air. This, then, is the point which all Dr. Squire's chapters make for, that general hygiene has more to do with the prevention and cure of consump- tion than anything else. Before phthisis was much studied it was discovered that a remarkable decrease had already taken place in the deaths from the disease owing to improved sanitation, the draining of impervious soils, better housing, better workshops, and better ventilation. Hence the open- air cure. And though phthisis exists in South Africa and Canada, who does not know men or women who have been sent out with a few months to live, and have become as healthy as their neighbours ? As to the belief in heredity, Dr. Squire's researches gave the cases of children of phthisical parents also becoming phthisical as higher than those of non-phthisical parents by a small percentage only,-9 per cent. While accepting these figures as correct, we should have said the experience of most medical men would have placed the percentage higher. One thing is beyond dispute, that the children of diseased parents are below par, and so liable to consumption, and the general weight of evi- dence seems to say that they are very weakly defended against the bacillus of consumption. Dr. Squire has strong views on the infectious nature of phthisis, and in particular of sputa and the milk of tuberculous cows, and, as he says, the class most liable to the disease do their very best to give it to those round them. He advocates notification of the disease, and, we suppose, isolation ; but this will be a harder task than even he realises. Many people, especially women, do not like relinquishing their invalids. After all, we are gregarious creatures, and the classes liable to phthisis, having so much less of mental resource, have both to live and take their recreation in company.
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