On Exemption from Consumption

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ON EXEMPTION FROM CONSUMPTION.—

It is by no means uncommon to hear it remarked, with reference to a particular person, “he or she is not a consumptive person;” as if there were any peculiar circumstances which indicated a preemptive right to exemption from the malady. Now, although it is true that individuals who present the characteristics of what physicians term a “strumous diathesis”—a “scrofulous look”—exhibit, more frequently, unmistakable evidence of tuberculous disease, yet it is not exclusively confined to these. The fair complexion, light hair, blue eyes, waxy and transparent skin, with the blue veins coursing under it, and the soft peach-like bloom, may indicate, but too truly, a victim of this dreaded disease; but it is found also in those of the raven locks, the dark complexion, and the bilious temperament. Stature affords no guard against its inroads—the tall and the short being equally subject to it; nor are the thin more liable than the stout to its assault. Sex does not shield the individual, nor age prevent its development. The learned and industrious are found in its ranks equally with the indolent and ignorant. Habits of life and occupation may protect us to a great extent, but they do not necessarily exempt us, while some of these actually beget a predisposition, or increase our liability to its advances. It behooves every one, therefore, to be watchful of its approaches, and to note, with jealous care, the slightest indications of its commencement or existence.