n. It is a specific infectious disease, usually chronic in course. Any organ or tissue of the body may be the seat of the disease, but in the adult the lungs are the most frequently attacked. This form (pulmonary tuberculosis or consumption) is marked by emaciation, cough and expectoration, fever of a hectic character, rapid pulse, night sweats, and sometimes the expectoration of blood. The larynx may also he involved, in which case hoarseness or loss of voice and pain on swallowing are added symptoms. In children tuberculosis frequently invades the lymphatic glands of the neck, the spine' (constituting Pott's disease), or one or more of the joints, especially the hip or the knee. This form, being often amenable to treatment by mechanical or operative measures, is called surgical tuberculosis. Tuberculosis of the skin is known as lupus. In the treatment of pulmonary and other forms of tuberculosis, the main reliance is upon fresh air, the patient passing the greater part of the day in the open air and sleeping at night by an open window or actually out of doors, sheltered from rain or snow by an awning. A dry but dustless climate at an elevation of 1000 to 3000 feet is beneficial, but is not essential. Rest is an important factor in the treatment, especially when fever is present. The 'food should be of the most nourishing character, consisting largely of eggs and milk, and it is important that the diet should include a large amount of fat. To avoid the dissemination of infection, the sputum (which usually contains large numbers of the tubercle bacilli) should be received in a pasteboard box or paper napkin and immediately burned. Care should be taken also, when coughing, to hold a paper napkin before the mouth to catch the droplets of moisture which almost always contain the bacilli of the disease. The acute form of the disease is called miliary tuberculosis, which see, under tuberculosis.n. A specific disease affecting most of the tissues of the body, characterized by the formation of tubercles and the presence in the diseased parts of the tubercle-bacillus.
