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RESULTS OF TREATMENT OF DISCHARGED PATIENTS

June 1, 1902 to April 30, 1903.

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It should be borne in mind that, as stated, a large proportion of the cases which come to the institution are hopelessly advanced.

LIST OF A PART OF THE PATIENTS WHO HAVE

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THE MASSACHUSETTS STATE SANATORIUM FOR
CONSUMPTIVES AT RUTLAND, MASS.*

BY HERBERT C. CLAPP, M.D.

Boston, Mass.

T is not my purpose in this paper to describe the technique of the

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the subject in recent years. If any are not familiar with these methods, they can find them described in several books, one of the best of which has been published this year by Arthur Latham of London on the "Diagnosis and Modern Treatment of Consumption."

Nor do I propose to describe in detail just the equipment for this purpose which we have in this State, beyond barely mentioning the facts that our State Sanatorium is situated fifty-three miles from Boston, in about the geographical centre of the State, in the little town of Rutland (which no one ever heard of before), on Lake Muschopauge, at an elevation of about 1200 feet above sea-level, in a beautiful country with extended views, near Mount Wachusett, 12 miles northwest from Worcester, on a tract of land of 200 acres sloping to the south and protected from the northwest winds by the top of the hill and by woods; that the plant has already cost the State over $300,000; that this month our Legislature has voted an additional $150,000 for further enlargement; that the male and female patients are in equal numbers; that the uniform price paid by patients (unless they are put on the free list) is $4.00 a week, and that the cost to the State, in addition to the interest on the investment, is about $10.00 a week per capita.

What I do propose is to describe some of our methods of carrying out in detail those principles of treatment which are (and of necessity must be) common to all sanatoria for consumptives, hoping that our experience may be of benefit to some of you who may be

* Read before the American Institute of Homeopathy.

instrumental in procuring the establishment of sanatoria in your own States.

As illustrations which can quickly and accurately convey much information without words and take the place of long descriptions, I append a bird's-eye view and also a block plan of our Sanatorium. In 1895 a bill passed the Massachusetts Legislature, with but little opposition, establishing the Massachusetts Hospital for Consumptives and Tubercular Patients, the awkward name of which was subsequently changed to the Massachusetts State Sanatorium. (It is not a sanitarium, neither is it a consumptives' home, in the common acceptation of the term). On October 10, 1898, the buildings having been completed, it was opened for the reception of patients. This has the honor of being the first sanatorium for consumptives in America which is conducted at the public expense, like our insane hospitals and other public institutions. Even now after having been in successful operation for almost five years, it is still the only State institution of the kind in this country in actual operation, although the United States Government has since established one for soldiers and one for marines in New Mexico, and several State institutions have been either chartered or projected and will soon be built. Undoubtedly before many years all of the States in our Union will have them and will find them as necessary as they now find their insane hospitals. They are bound

to come.

It has often been said at our State House that our Massachusetts Sanatorium is now the most popular institution in the Commonwealth with our Legislature, and that almost everything in the way of an appropriation which is asked for by our trustees is cheerfully granted, which is not the case with some of our other institutions. The reason is not far to seek. Not only has the general popular sentiment become aroused in its favor, but also many among our senators and representatives have themselves been eye-witnesses of the remarkable restoration to health of some of their friends and constituents.

The demonstration of our success in Massachusetts ought to make it comparatively easy to pass bills through the Legislatures of other States in our Union.

I should like to refer any who may be interested in the establishment of State Sanatoria and who may desire to become posted in convincing arguments in their behalf, to a very able Report to the State of New Hampshire of the Commission appointed to consider the question of a State Sanatorium for Consumptives, dated Nov. 1, 1902. It was printed at Concord, N. H., and the Secre

tary of the commission was Dr. Irving A. Watson of Concord, who perhaps might be willing to furnish a few printed copies on request.

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The report, which is profusely illustrated, evidences a great deal of painstaking labor and is a very skillful setting forth of the merits. of the question. It convinced the New Hampshire Legislature,

and they voted for the bill. Very sad to relate, however, the Governor, playing to the political gods in the gallery, as some think, belittled himself by giving it his veto. They will have to try it again.

I hope that our homeopathic physicians in the different States will take an interest in the establishment of these State Sanatoria and will endeavor to secure representation for our cause in them, for they will certainly be established before many years, whether we have a part in them or not This representation should be secured in each case before the bill passes the Legislature and should be a corporate part of the bill. It should not be left to the whims and caprices of a board of trustees, for boards differ in largeness of character and breadth of vision, and the change of one or two members may revolutionize the sentiments of the board. To be sure, the most important part of the treatment is hygienic; but nevertheless medicines are called for to quite a considerable extent for different symptoms. Again, medicines with hygiene are better than hygiene alone; and here, as elsewhere, I believe that homeopathic medication is decidedly superior in efficiency to other kinds.

As to our own experience in Massachusetts. Fortunately for us, when the bill in this State was under consideration several years ago, the friends of homeopathy, led by Dr. George E. White of Sandwich (who happened to be a member of a committee of the Legislature to which the bill was referred) successfully insisted on having a clause inserted requiring the giving of homeopathic treatment as well as the other kind.

Of the five trustees appointed by the Governor, one is a homeopathic physician, Dr. Frederick B. Percy, an honored member of the medical profession. Another is an old school physician, another a lawyer, another a manufacturer, and another an editor. They appointed Dr. W. J. Marcley as superintendent and treasurer, to have the executive and financial management of the institution, and they entrusted the medical management to Dr. Bowditch for the old school service and to the writer for the homeopathic service. Our titles were Examining and Visiting Physicians. Boston being the centre of population of the State, an examining office was opened there on two forenoons in each week, Dr. Bowditch examining applicants for admission on Wednesdays and I on Saturdays. Printed circulars were sent to all the physicians in the State, inviting them to send from among their patients in moderate circumstances such as had incipient phthisis; and the circulars stated that those patients who desired to be under the care of Dr. Bowditch, after admission to the Sanatorium, should apply to him at the

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