ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12404, 20 November 1908, Page 4

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Anxiety as to Consumption mHLV 0 ?° ew^»«« tE lies"' mj power to prevent my baby from having the sa . mo weakness Should S a £To cl ffS£s:» wai — ] -

Keply. Ono can only reply to such a (jues- i lion on general principles. During the last half century the most extraordinary changes have taken place in advice- tendered to persons regarded as predisposed to, or actually suffering from, tuberculosis. For a !ong time sea voyages and a sojourn in some warm or mild coastal climate such as that of Maderia or tho north of New Zealand, was generally recommended, and, provided the new conditions involved leading a more, or less active outdoor life, patients often improved and sometimes grew perfectly strong and well. Seeing such results, and in view of the fact that consumptive pe.ople often "catch cold" very readily, it was assumed that treatment in institutions where a mild" equable temperature could be artificially sustained would prove curative, but phthisis hospitals .became notorious for being the worst places to which consumptives could be sent. The indoor coddling, the lack of perfectly pure air, and the deficient stimulation of the skin by natural changes .of temperature, combined with insufficient exercise and frequent reinfection, ' rendered these hospitals in the highest degree dangerous. Gradually through wider experience of the recovery of patients under divergent conditions as to locality and climate, it came to be realised that the essential condition for fortifying the individual against tubercular invasion was the loading of as healthy, active, and open air a life as ■.circumstances would permit. Avoidance, of coddling, good air, good plain food, plenty or "open air exercise and exposure, regular habits, etc., all play their part in making the countless millions of human units more than a match for the microbes which are ever at hand ready to assail any weak spot. The purer the air we live in, day and night, the less risk we run of any disease or microbe invasion, and this is- specially true of tuberculosis. Some patients suffering from actual consumption do best in a mild coastal climate, others in the dry interior-, but all alike need fresh air, and there is practically almost no part of New Zealand where there .need be anxiety as to acquiring the disease, provided the requisites for healthy living receive reasonable attenton. Taken all round, there is probably no healthier region in the Dominion than the Duncclm hills. I shall have a few more words to say on the matter next week.