So long as there are, to them, no tangible symptoms of
approaching mischief, and they feel fairly well, they act as if they
thought "that all men were mortal but themselves." Yet it is from
among persons who have an inherited but latent tendency to tubercular
disease, and whose lung power is below par, that the great army of
consumptives who die every year is recruited. It is very difficult to
induce persons who ought to be interested in this matter to take
effective measures for their future safety when the terrible symptoms
accompanying the last stages of the disease often fail to shake the
sufferer's confident expectation of recovery; and we sometimes see
them engaged in laying plans for the future when death is imminent. I
regret deeply to be obliged to make these statements, because I am
convinced that if the suggestions laid down in this work were
generally reduced to practice by those who have reason to dread the
development of tubercular disease, many valuable lives would be saved.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF TUBERCULAR MATTER IN THE BLOOD.
During the digestive processes the starchy, saccharine, and albuminoid
elements of food are dissolved, and the fatty matters are emulsified.
A uniform milky solution is thus formed, which is rapidly absorbed
into the general circulation; some of it passes directly through the
walls of the vessels into the blood, and some is taken up by the
lacteals and reaches the vital fluid by traversing the complicated
series of tubes known as the absorbent system, and the numerous glands
connected with it.
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