Page:The Harveian oration 1911.djvu/45

40 OLD AND NEW VIEWS ON recent complaints against sanatoriums seem ex- aggerated and unreasonable, though they may partly be accounted for by the nature of the cases adinitted, which are generally too advanced and fitter for consumption hospitals, and many more such hospitals are needed in this country.

A comparison has recently been made by Messrs. Elderton and Perry, under the auspices of Professor Karl Pearson, F'.R.S., between the results from sanatorium treatment and those obtained in pre-sanatorium days by Dr. Pollock and myself. As far as I am concerned, I highly appreciate the care and attention which have been bestowed on my laborious figures, and I am pleased to note that Messrs. Elderton and Perry’s conclusions agree so well with my facts; but I do not consider that sanatoriums have been long enough established in this country to furnish the information required for reliable statistics, and I hold that a fair and useful comparison is not yet possible. I would deprecate also comparison of American sanatoriums, such as the Adirondacks, with records of private patients in Great Britain, necessarily under different conditions.

I propose later to offer an opinion as to the needs of this country with regard to sanatoriums, hospitals, dispensaries, and labour colonies, but for the present will only say that the successes achieved at some of the working-class sanatoriums and the results of certain private sanatoriums �