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TWENTIETH QUESTION.

IS CONSUMPTION EVER CAUSED OR PROMOTED BY A WET LOCATION?

Upon this question the profession is more nearly unanimous, than upon most of those that preceded it. This is probably owing to the fact that investigations carried on in Massachusetts, many years since, by myself, (7) and subsequently, in England, by Dr. Buchanan, under the special directions of the Medical Officer of the Privy Council, (8) have fully proved that residence on a damp soil tends to the production and promotion of consumption, in New and Old England.

(8) 9th and 10th Reports of the Medical Officer of the Privy Council. 1866-7. London.

These investigations and these results have probably given an explanation to the prevalence of consumptive cases in the practice of physicians, which previously were less explicable.

The percentages are as follows: one hundred and sixty-nine (80 per cent.) take the affirmative; twenty-one (10 per cent.) the negative; two (0.95 per cent.) are doubtful, and nineteen (9.04 per cent.) have returned no answer.

Extracts from letters from Correspondents relative to this question.

Ward. -- Dwellings should not be exposed to cold or dampness.

Brown. -- I am more and more impressed with the influence of location, as determined by low levels and damp surroundings. I think that the use of cellar-kitchens in certain localities, is decidedly unhealthy.

Barker. -- In exposed, wet, damp and foggy locations, the general health and strength suffer, and consumption is promoted.

Dowries. -- I have a patient, at present, who has two homes, -- the one on a dry, sandy soil, the other near a large brook and pond. "While at the latter, she coughs more, and invariably feels worse.

Torrey. -- I have often seen consumption apparently checked by change of locality, by going to Southern or Western States where the atmosphere is dry. I think consumption is very much on the increase here (Braintree), owing to the moisture of the land. I think, also, it is owing to the occupation of a large portion of the inhabitants, being manufacturers of boots, and working in small, close shops.

Brigham. -- Have attended two cases of consumption following colds contracted by moving into new houses before the plastering had become thoroughly dry.

Adams. -- I came to Stockbridge thirty-three years ago. At that time and during the ten years following, there were in the village, several cases of consumption, -- all young ladies from sixteen to twenty-five years of age. I heard then no opinions of the cause, except the habit, said to have been prevalent, of evening walks with slight protection. It seems to me that the evenings then were much more damp than they are now. For nearly twenty years I do not remember a case of consumption originating here. The plain is sandy, and the soil in the meadows on the banks of the Housatonic is so porous that the water filters through it and quickly reaches the river. Our village has been supplied, since 1864, with pure water from the mountain. Typhoid fever has been rare during the last five or seven years; previously, the disease was quite regular in its autumnal visitations. Drains and cellars receive proper attention, and care is taken to render them inoffensive.

Morse. -- I am convinced that living in a valley near water is an active cause in producing consumption. But this, I believe, is universally conceded.

Metcalf. -- Consumption is rather a rare disease (more rare, I think, in the last twenty-five or thirty years), in the circle of my practice; and oftener occurring in families located in exposed situations, and especially if the site is wet.

I would invite especial attention to the following letter: --

Huse. -- The marked prevalence of phthisis in Georgetown, is undoubtedly due to the extremely moist condition of a considerable portion of the soil. The town being located at the intersection of two main roads which traverse a large area of fresh meadow-land, a large basin collecting the drainage of a large area of upland. The immediate centre of the town is of gravelly soil, quite pervious to water, and is quickly dry; but the south-east, south and south- portions are boggy and wet, inundated by freshets, and filling many cellars with dampness, if not with water. The meadows, like all others at certain temperatures, give many noisome and thick fogs, which completely envelope these portions of the town, only to be dispelled by the next day's sun, or a favorable wind. At 'these times, any one standing on the neighboring hill, can see only the tops of the most elevated buildings, which appear to come out of an immense cloud. The town is but little shaded, though considerable woodland is in the outskirts; but in the inhabited portion, the sunlight has free ingress. As in all basins, there are several ponds, of several hundred acres area in the aggregate, which, with the flowage of the meadow- land, serve as a mill-privilege, thereby increasing the sources of dampness, besides being the cause of much litigation because of damages incurred by overflow of gardens.