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The discipline of tuberculosis
576
[September, 1928
TUl3ERCLE
well·koown persons who suffered from phthisis. Bichat, Laennec, Trudeau, and many others are written of, and the moral of their struggle agaiost tuberSEPTEMBER, 1928. culosis .is not too obtr~sively pointed. The attitude of the patient towards his disease is now a. days acquiring a. new The Discipline of T.berc:ulosis. significance in the light of modern . "HOI'E," wrote Shelley, "still creates psychology, but its possibilities are not from its owo wreck the thing it con- exhausted. Indeed, it sLould be fertile . templates," a.nd a large part of medical ground for the production of help for practice. aims at awaking a hope that the tuberculous patient. . The creative faculties of the young once 80hve becomes re-creative. The adult are suddenly removed from the daily visit to tbe sick-room, and the mere presence of one assumed to know about stage, the university or the newlydisease. and it~ outcome, are potent made home, and he or sbe Is buried in & factors 10 the hves of the patient and hospital or sanatorium. The fresh air his friends. Aud in days wben each is no recompense for the loss of practitioner relies more on instruments freshness of the intellectual or social it is no fault to remember that, though life in which he has been engaged. No diagnosis precedes 8011, treatment out- one, other than those wbo have been subjected to it, realiBes the chasm which Ii ves all. . Alt~ough hope .readily regenerates exists between the levered activities of Itself In the acute 1Iloesses; in the pro- the individual in the weeks preceding the diagnosis and the complete rest 10~lged courses of some complaints every Wile has tobeused to prevent tbe patielJ1i's wh!ch is immediately enforced, and impatience becoming bis owu worst whICh the malail!e cannot completely enem)'. The psychiat~ist can generally span. For the young adult this means promIse tbe melanchohc recovery albeit the desire for self·expression, a fully. transient, from the present ~ttack. oooupied life, 80 mind full of plaos for In. some diseases the very patho- the futuI'e. One of Kipling's Yorkshire· logICal process seems to be associated m~~ .solved t~e pr?blem by his biting with a mental state which makes cntlclsm of hiS chief, and our patients the syndrome more bearable to the will solve it no less unsatisractorilyunless patient himself. The euphoria of the we take adequllote measures to direct ataxio cripple with disseminated sclero- their mental energies ioto some wise sis, an~ t?e spes. phthisica. may be channels. Where physical exercise is generahsatlOns whICh are a. little too contra·indicated it is the more important sweepingly made. In latter years, how- tha~ mental exercise be not negleoted. ever, the problems of the mental and It IS perhaps all to the good that 80 home lire of the tuberculous patient are many of those in control of tuberculous reoeiving increasing attention, and it is patient~ have lluffered from the physioal with these aims in view that l'ke and mental restrictions of the disease .Tournal of the Out·door Life is pub- themselves, and the problem which the lished in Americ". Recently Dr·. Joseph two medical writers quoted above have Walsh [1] gave an address published in opened up is one about which increasing that organ entitled II Tuberculosis Some- thought should be exponded. Those times a Blessing," which is 80 record of who have passed through the disease patients personally observed, \vho were should be able to bring as many trained during tbe course of tbeir treat. suggestions to bear on it as should ment in some new occupation, and who those who have merely' detected the ultimately made a. livelihood at it which di~ease through the stethoscope or was productive to them of considerably mloroscope. REFERENCES. more income than they had been obtain[1] WALSH,:T. Journal' of Outdoor Life, ing previously. Dr. J. Arthur Myers May, 1928. [2] has recently written an inspiring [2] MYERS, J. A. Fighters of Fate." Bal. volume which deals with the llves of timore: Williams and Wilkins Co.
TUBERCLE.
II
[September, 1928
TUl3ERCLE
well·koown persons who suffered from phthisis. Bichat, Laennec, Trudeau, and many others are written of, and the moral of their struggle agaiost tuberSEPTEMBER, 1928. culosis .is not too obtr~sively pointed. The attitude of the patient towards his disease is now a. days acquiring a. new The Discipline of T.berc:ulosis. significance in the light of modern . "HOI'E," wrote Shelley, "still creates psychology, but its possibilities are not from its owo wreck the thing it con- exhausted. Indeed, it sLould be fertile . templates," a.nd a large part of medical ground for the production of help for practice. aims at awaking a hope that the tuberculous patient. . The creative faculties of the young once 80hve becomes re-creative. The adult are suddenly removed from the daily visit to tbe sick-room, and the mere presence of one assumed to know about stage, the university or the newlydisease. and it~ outcome, are potent made home, and he or sbe Is buried in & factors 10 the hves of the patient and hospital or sanatorium. The fresh air his friends. Aud in days wben each is no recompense for the loss of practitioner relies more on instruments freshness of the intellectual or social it is no fault to remember that, though life in which he has been engaged. No diagnosis precedes 8011, treatment out- one, other than those wbo have been subjected to it, realiBes the chasm which Ii ves all. . Alt~ough hope .readily regenerates exists between the levered activities of Itself In the acute 1Iloesses; in the pro- the individual in the weeks preceding the diagnosis and the complete rest 10~lged courses of some complaints every Wile has tobeused to prevent tbe patielJ1i's wh!ch is immediately enforced, and impatience becoming bis owu worst whICh the malail!e cannot completely enem)'. The psychiat~ist can generally span. For the young adult this means promIse tbe melanchohc recovery albeit the desire for self·expression, a fully. transient, from the present ~ttack. oooupied life, 80 mind full of plaos for In. some diseases the very patho- the futuI'e. One of Kipling's Yorkshire· logICal process seems to be associated m~~ .solved t~e pr?blem by his biting with a mental state which makes cntlclsm of hiS chief, and our patients the syndrome more bearable to the will solve it no less unsatisractorilyunless patient himself. The euphoria of the we take adequllote measures to direct ataxio cripple with disseminated sclero- their mental energies ioto some wise sis, an~ t?e spes. phthisica. may be channels. Where physical exercise is generahsatlOns whICh are a. little too contra·indicated it is the more important sweepingly made. In latter years, how- tha~ mental exercise be not negleoted. ever, the problems of the mental and It IS perhaps all to the good that 80 home lire of the tuberculous patient are many of those in control of tuberculous reoeiving increasing attention, and it is patient~ have lluffered from the physioal with these aims in view that l'ke and mental restrictions of the disease .Tournal of the Out·door Life is pub- themselves, and the problem which the lished in Americ". Recently Dr·. Joseph two medical writers quoted above have Walsh [1] gave an address published in opened up is one about which increasing that organ entitled II Tuberculosis Some- thought should be exponded. Those times a Blessing," which is 80 record of who have passed through the disease patients personally observed, \vho were should be able to bring as many trained during tbe course of tbeir treat. suggestions to bear on it as should ment in some new occupation, and who those who have merely' detected the ultimately made a. livelihood at it which di~ease through the stethoscope or was productive to them of considerably mloroscope. REFERENCES. more income than they had been obtain[1] WALSH,:T. Journal' of Outdoor Life, ing previously. Dr. J. Arthur Myers May, 1928. [2] has recently written an inspiring [2] MYERS, J. A. Fighters of Fate." Bal. volume which deals with the llves of timore: Williams and Wilkins Co.
TUBERCLE.
II