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I wish briefly to offer a few observations upon the subject of the nature and origin of tuberculosis.
At the recent meeting of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin, held at Milwaukee, September 4, 5 and 6, a resolution was adopted declaring in substance that we now know consumption to be an infectious disease, and that the authority of the State Board of Health should be sought to the end that persons afflicted should be “separated from intimate association with the well in our public institutions.” It would seem to me that the passing of this resolution as based upon what we actually know concerning the origin and nature of consumption, is wholly premature. We certainly do not know that consumption is an infectious disease. On the contrary, the vast majority of the profession, from actual clinical experience as we believe, are pretty well satisfied that it is not. We