Henry Baird Favill, AB, MD, LL.D., 1860-1916, a ... - University Library

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HENRY BAIRD FAVILL
through every avenue of city Hfe and into every spot, no
matter how hygienic, establishing relations one way and
another with every level of society. A good neighborhood,
good household, good living conditions, and wholesome
occupation, are no protection against this factor in the
question.
Remember that I have said a tubercular patient in any
stage need be no menace to people living in the same room,
and remember also that a tubercular patient in an advanced
stage, uninstructed and unsupervised, is more or less a
menace to everyone who lives within reach of the wind that
blows past his door.
Something must be done about it. The workers in
this field know no discouragement. They have seen three
things: that the dangerous, advanced consumptive can be
taught not to endanger anyone, that consumptives taken
very early can in a great preponderance of cases be saved,
and that the members of the community particularly exposed
to danger can be effectively protected. All this they
have seen and the effect upon the aggressive force is to inspire
them with courage.
There is a way to do it. The problem is simple of
statement: First, get into immediate contact with the
situation, the sick and their households. Second, develop
the simplest practicable method for dealing with the
various types. Third, bring to bear upon the situation, as
it exists, intelligence and money, and the problem is on the
way to solution.
The work will take a generation or two or three, but
whatever it takes it will have more than paid at every step.