CONSUMPTION 131 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES the results, set about to devise means to improve them. The organization was especially concerned about the environ- ment of the young girls beginning to work for their livelihoods and not yet old enough to guard themselves against the evils and temptations of a big city. One of the methods employed to force the owners of department store establish- ments to better the conditions of their employees is the "white list." The white list is composed of the names of those establishments which observe certain conditions of wages and hours of daily labor demanded by the organization. It is printed and cirralated among the mem- bers, who bind themselves to give pref- erential treatment to the firms on the list. Another method of enforcing its conditions on merchants employed by the Consumers' League is the "con- sumers' label." This label is granted for use only to those firms which; (1) com- ply with state legislation passed for the benefit of female labor; (2) which manu- facture their goods only on their own premises, or procure their goods from manufacturers who manufacture only on their own premises; (3) which do not employ girls under sixteen years of age; (4) which limit the hours of employ- ment to ten or under; and, finally, those which allow inspection of their establish- ments by representatives of the League. Many of these provisions are now en- forced in New York by law, but they are all still insisted upon by the National Consumers' Leag^ue in other parts of the country, this more general body having been organized in 1899, with Mrs. Flor- ence Kelley as secretary. The influence of the Consumers' League in bettering the working conditions of women in large mercantile establishments, espe- cially in those which cater to the trade of the ultimate consumer, can hardly be overestimated, and in many cases has been more effective than legislation. CONSUMPTION, TUBERCULOSIS, or PHTHISIS, a more or less rapidly ad- vancing process of lung-destruction, a disease characterized by emaciation, de- bility, cough, hectic fever, and purulent expectoration. It is caused by a germ known as the tubercle bacillus. The predisposing causes are very variable, hereditary taint, scrofulous diathesis, syphilis, smallpox, etc., exposure to fumes and dusty air in certain trades; violent passions and excess of various kinds; sudden lowering of the tempera- ture of tho body, etc. The more imme- diate or occasional causes are pneu- monic inflammation proceeding to suppu- ration, catarrh, asthma, and tubercles in the lungs. The morbid appearance most fre- quently to be met with on the dissection of those who die of phthisis is the exi.st- i'V.ce of tubercles in the cellular sub- .srance of the lungs, most usually at the upper and back part; but, in some in- stances, occupying the outer part, and forming adhesions to the pleura. In some cases life has been protracted till not one-twentieth part of the lungs ap- peared on dissection fit for performing their function. The left lobe is oftener affected than the right. This form of the disease is known as pulmonary tu- berculosis. The tubercle bacillus also affects the lymphatic glands, the bones and many other parts of the body. Re- moval to an equable climate or to a pure and mild air, may arrest the disease in its incipient stage. In October, 1890, Dr. Koch, of Berlin, gave to the medical world his theory of the treatment of tuberculo:?is by a new medicament which he styled lymph. Its composition was made known by Dr. Koch, Jan. 15, 1891. It consists of a glycerine extract, derived from the pure cultivation of tubercle bacilli, and contains besides the effective matter all the other matters soluble in 50 per cent, glycerine. The remedy does not destroy the tubercle bacilli, but rather the affected tissues. It has been tried in various tuberculous affections, including lupus, and the fluid has a dis- tinctly specific action on tubercular proc- esses of all kinds. No markedly success- ful results have been obtained from its use. There are quite a number of prep- arations of tuberculin now in use. See Koch, Robert. CONTAGION, the communication of a disease by contact with the person labor- ing under it, as distinguished from in- fection, used to signify its transmission by means of the air without actual per- sonal contact with the diseased person. But sometimes the word contagion is used in both of these senses, and is di- vided intx) immediate or contactical con- tagion, that produced by actual contact, and mediate or remote contagion, com- municated by the air. CONTAGIOUS DISEASES, those dis- eases which may be contracted by the healthy from the sick, either by direct contact with an affected part, or by in- direct contact through bodily excretions and exhalations. Typical contagious diseases are Span- ish influenza, diphtheria, measles, scarlet fever, mumps, smallpox, typhus fever, erysipelas, and bubonic plague. Diseases of this class are a menace to public health, and in all civilized na- tions stringent methods are used to pre- vent their spread, and the sufferers are
