CONSUMPTION IN IRELAND.•
THE first of these volumes opens with some diagrams which exhibit in a striking way the urgency of the case. First we have columns which show the frequency of the disease as compared with the other chief maladies. It overtops them all considerably, old age coming next—an incidental testimony to the generally favourable conditions of Irish life—followed by heart disease, almost exactly on the same level, and bronchitis. Translating these statements into figures, we have consumption as the cause of 11,756 deaths (out of a total of 74,427), old age and heart disease 8,400 each (about), and bronchitis 7,150. The next diagram makes these figures more impressive, because it proves that while England and Scotland show a marked improvement in the period included, 1864-1906, Ireland has deteriorated. Here, again, the figures are very striking. In 1870.71 Scotland reached her worst point, 3.9 per 1,000 living; England her worst, 3.4, in 1866. The two countries have now receded to 2.1 and 1.6 respectively. Ireland started from her minimum of 24 in 1864, and during the decade 1897-1906 fluctuated between 2.7 and 2-9. On the causes we need not dwell. The medical authorities, of whom there is an imposing array in the con- tributors to these volumes, are mostly agreed upon them, though there seems to be some difference of opinion as to whether physical deterioration of the Irish population is to be reckoned among them,—emigration has taken away the vigorous and left the feeble. The essentially important facts are these, that the disease is infectious and that it is curable. The first practical inference is that notification ought to be compulsory. The disease is communicable (by the sputum of the affected person) as scarlet fever or measles are communi- cable. And though it is probably true that the proportion * Ireland's Crusade against Taborets:one : (1) The Plan of Campaign, (2) Organisation and Equipment. Edited by the Countess of Aberdeen, Dublin: Muunsel and Co. Lie. net per ToL] of the immune is considerably higher in the case of con- sumption than where eruptive fevers are concerned, the danger is so great that the precaution of notification ought to be enforced. The remedies are to be found first and chiefly in the establishment of sanatoria, in dispensaries, and in intelligent home treatment. It is to the multiplication of sanatoria that the efforts of the benevolent should be mostly directed. Large and costly buildings are not wanted, but something more like a health encampment. The results of the treatment are eminently satisfactory. But for these and for the methods pursued we must refer our readers to the volumes which are the subject of this notice.
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