ited one, as was formerly supposed. It increased very rapidly for
a few years but is now slightly decreasing, owing to better knowledge of
its cause and cure.

Its prevention and its cure both lie largely in fresh air. Physicians
say that no one who lives an open-air life with plenty of fresh air
night and day will contract it. The cure which is restoring hundreds to
health is to find a place where the air is pure, and live and sleep
practically outdoors; to eat as much milk, raw eggs, and meat as can be
digested and to observe the other rules of hygiene. Incipient cases,
those in the earliest stages, may sometimes be cured while continuing at
work by following the other rules as nearly as possible.

On account of the extremely contagious nature of tuberculosis, special
care should be taken to prevent its spread. The sputum coughed up from
the lungs is the principal carrier of the disease, and the person who,
having tuberculosis, even in its earliest stages, spits in a public
place, is an enemy of mankind, for he endangers the lives of hundreds of
others. The only excuse for this is that he usually does it through
ignorance, but the knowledge of the danger should be so impressed on all
the people that no one could plead ignorance, and for a consumptive to
spit on the street should be counted as much a crime morally as for a
smallpox patient deliberately to expose others to the disease.

Great care should of course be taken in the home of a consumptive
patient to prevent the infection from spreading through the family.
Separate sleeping-rooms, thorough disinfection, and the use of paper
napkins which are burned at once, to take the place of handkerchiefs,
should be some of the means employed.

Pneumonia, pleurisy, bronchitis, grip, colds, and catarrh are some of
the other ailments which may be largely banished by living the outdoor
life. The method of treatment is medical, is different in each case, and
should be decided by the family physician. The constant habit of
breathing impurities, day after day and year after year, brings about a
gradual change in the tissue of the lungs.

In the same way, simple food to take the place of the rich, heavy foods
eaten in large quantities, will prevent many of the diseases of the
stomach, liver, and kidneys, and improve the general health and
strength. A diet of less meat and more eggs has been tried by football
teams in training and found to give an equal amount of strength wit