Senior Member American Institute, President of the State Society of Colorado, Ex-President of the Denver Homeopathic Club, Professor of Pedology in The Denver Homeopathic Medical College. An absurd proposition from Denver's Health Commissioner to declare tuberculosis contagious, and then to placard the habitations of all consumptives within our gates. "Dress'd in a little brief authority, most ignorant of what he's most assured," he would play fantastic tricks upon the people. It seems to be the mission of this Journal to expose the folly and misrepresentations of ambitious medical officials, and to guard the people against imposition and injustice. Last month we found it necessary to inform our readers in regard to the much discussed water question, and thereby removed a wide-spread alarm which designing persons had falsely created in the minds of our citizens. To do this, we had but to give the actual facts and leave them to the scrutiny of an intelligent public. The result of this was to effectually dissipate an unfounded apprehension regarding the purity of Denver's water supply and to put in the hands of the people, facts and figures which will enable them to defend our fair city against the machinations of disloyal officials. We are now confronted by another exhibition of medical officialism which, if carried to its legitimate conclusion, will work incalcu. lable injury to our City and State. Through a series of questions addressed to the medical profession, our Health Commissioner seeks an indorsement of the theory that consumption is a contagious disease, and that measures should be taken for its restriction. Following the question of its contagiousness, comes this significant query: "Would you advise placarding the apartments occupied by consumptives in tenement and lodging houses?” Why limit these questions to members of the medical profession only? We propose to submit the same questions to all the people of Colorado, and listen to their answers. Observation and experience must be our guide in this, as in all matters relating to disease. On this basis, how many could say that consumption is contagions? How do we judge of contagion in other diseases? How many could, beyond doubt, trace a single case of consumption to contagion? On the contrary, does not common, every day observation among our citizens declare that it is not contagious? Of the thousands of business men living in Colorado to-day, who came to be cured of consumption, and were cured, how many of them can point to any evidence of contagion? When we speak of consumption, we mean tuberculosis," and do not include chronic pneumonia, broncho-pneumonia, bronchitis, etc., etc., which may originate in any land or in any climate, and which have no relation to genuine tuberculosis. If tuberculosis be contagious, there ought to be many and undoubted evidences of it in this locality. As a matter of fact, cases of tuberculosis originating in this country from any cause, even heredity, are exceedingly rare. In Colorado Springs, which may be called the very Mecca of consumptives, the records show that in twenty years, only twenty cases of the disease have been reported as having originated in that City, and this favorable showing is equally true of all portions of our State. In considering the question, we should not ouly be honest with ourselves and with the outside world, but we should insist on honest methods of investigation by our Health Officials. Mere individual theory should not be permitted to prevail against the facts of history, observation and practical experience. Health officials have a sufficiently wide and legitimate field in which to operate against many diseases of undoubted contagion, without attempting to create alarm over a disease which cannot be contagious in any proper sense. If |