Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 30.djvu/93

Rh had occasion repeatedly to remark that if, from a few days' rain, the consumptives under my care "were confined to their homes, instead of being able to take the daily out-door breathing invariably prescribed under such circumstances, the aggravation of symptoms was always marked and universal. The appetite fell off, the debility became greater, the mind was less buoyant, the local mischief increased. The patients, too, previously accustomed to a full dose of the air-food, were not ignorant of the cause of these changes, for reduction in air is felt as quickly as reduction in common diet. Seeing these evils, then, I have long since thrown off the alarm about bad weather, and have ordered every patient to seize, even in an inclement day, each gleam of sunshine, for the purpose of getting out for a breath of fresh air. The result of this practice has been most gratifying in all cases where the courage of the patient has admitted of its application.

Dr.Jackson, in speaking of out-door life, in much the same terms as the above, dwells very properly on the necessity of securing for this plan the confidence of the patient. The treatment "should not be done rashly, but boldly." If possible, "the patient should be made to have faith in it; for without this he is not likely to pursue it as far as he can, and then he will not derive from it all the benefit which it can afford." This is the fact; but the difficulty is at once got over if, under favorable conditions, the invalid can be induced to try the measure for a few days. Once tried, there is no fear, in the majority of cases, of its being given up, except in instances where the disease is too far advanced, or where, from the poverty of the patient, the pursuit of a sedentary occupation must needs be followed, even to the last days of existence. The benefit derived from this treatment is indeed so obvious, the debility is so much better borne, the relish for food is so much more markedly felt, the nights are passed with so much less of restlessness and cough, and with such an increase of sleep, that the sufferer soon instinctively feels the value of his instructions, and follows them out even more punctually than those which relate to the taking of medicines.

As much of the day, then, as is possible should be spent by the consumptive in the open air, and in places where the air is least impeded and least corrupted. When he is compelled to keep the house, the necessary precautions must again be taken for procuring a free admission of the atmosphere. No cozy room with a temperature of 70°, with every crevice closed, and with an atmosphere in a dead calm and laden with impurities, should be permitted. But the temperature should be 60° Fahr.; the fire, if there be one, should be in an open grate; and by a free chimney-vent, secured by an Arnott valve, the freest possible current of air should be kept circulating through the room. If the patient is cold, let him approach the fire, but let him not labor under the popular and fatal error that the way to obtain animal warmth is to shut out the air and roast the body. The heat