We cannot too strongly urge upon the medical faculty, as well as the friends of the afflicted of whom we have written, that delays are dangerous.  Early action on the first manifestations of lung troubles and tendencies is necessary if lives are to be saved.  It is hard to turn from the beaten path and enter new, even when larger health is hoped for and needed, yet that should be resolutely done, though it were far better the confining and unhealthful course had not been originally entered upon.

CHAPTER VIII.

CAUSES OF CONSUMPTION.

Prevention better than cure.—­Local causes of disease.—­Our school system objectionable.—­Dr. Bowditch’s opinion.—­Location of our homes important.—­Damp soils prolific of lung troubles.—­Bad ventilation.—­Value of sunshine.—­City girls and city life.—­Fashionable society.—­Tight lacing fatal to sound health.—­Modern living.—­The iron hand of fashion.

The proverb that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” has been almost totally ignored in its relation to the laws which govern health.  It seems quite as essential, however, to examine into the cause of disease as it is to seek for remedies which, in many instances, can work but a temporary cure, so long as the cause is overlooked.  One is but the sequence of the other; and, to remove the malady, or prevent its recurrence, they have but to remove the cause.  This is freely admitted to be the right principle, yet, is it always the course pursued?  Do not people mislead themselves much, and, instead of going to the root of difficulty, remain content with what must prove but a temporary restoration?

How often, for example, does the physician, when called to the patient suffering from a cold, inquire to see the shoes or boots of the invalid?  Never; the thing is unheard of.  Their questions in the direction of causes would not reach half way to the real goal which should be made the point of investigation.  Not that the insufficient shoes or boots are going to have any part in the restoration of the invalid; but it may be shown, on examination, that they were the real cause of trouble, and, by a change, prevent in the future a similar attack, from that source at least.  The same is true of half the diseases afflicting mankind; their prevention may be assured, to a great extent, by attention to the dictates of hygienic laws, which are no more or less than the laws of moderation and common sense, and not, as many suppose, the law of obligation to eat stale bread, or “cold huckleberry-pudding,” all the balance of their lives, though this diet might be beneficial if ghost-seeing and spirit-rapping was determined upon.

Very many cases of fevers can be directly traced to some local cause, which should receive as much attention from the physician as does the patient, and either the one or the other promptly removed.  Indeed, people must learn for themselves to investigate the laws regulating health, and thus be able, without the aid of any professional, to decide intelligently all of the more obvious questions.