Every patient is closely observed for about ten days after admission. The amount and frequency of rest, exercise and work is determined at all times by the condition of the patients. They are assigned to work according to their strength and capabilities. All dining-room duties, such as waiting on the table, washing dishes, and preparing vegetables, are performed by selected patients who show but slight lesions, negative sputum, and have no cough. Many of the patients are able to do farm work, and this keeps them out in the air and relieves their ennui.
In a large institution of this kind the problem of sewage disposal is not an easy matter. But by the aid of expert sanitary engineers this has been satisfactorily overcome. Thousands of feet of pipe have been laid, and an up-to-date disposal plant has been erected. The effluent from this plant will have been so purified as to be practically indistinguishable from pure water.
An abundance of pure water has also been provided, and is supplied at a high pressure to all the buildings. Fire plugs are scattered about the sanatorium grounds, and a fire-fighting system has been organized.
The sanatorium has its own dairy, for the patients are encouraged to drink considerable milk. The cow barn and the milk handling rooms in connection with this, are immaculately clean, and this condition is reflected by the milk, which is of the highest possible purity.
The one fact which stands out prominently at the sanatorium is the broad foundation on which the whole work has been planned. The work is being directed with admirable foresight, and will yield immense returns in the fight against tuberculosis in New York City. The sanatorium was established in order to provide a place for treating these consumptives of New York who are unable to pay, the large army who until now have had merely the clinics and dispensaries, but for whom country treatment is most desirable. The city maintains the patients absolutely free, the only condition being that the disease is not too far advanced.
The present capacity of the institution, about 150, is only a small fraction of what it will be five or ten years hence. Yet even these small numbers are an immense potential for good when they return to the city cured or improved, for they carry with them habits of cleanliness and personal hygiene and a knowledge of the value of fresh air, which are of incalculable value not only to them, but to all with whom they come in contact.
The present officers of the institution are: Dr. Thomas Darlington, commissioner of health; Dr. Hermann M. Biggs, general medical officer; Dr. Irving D. Williams, superintendent; Dr. Edward J. McSweenv, resident physician, and Dr. Frank P. Hauser, assistant resident physician.
RAILROADS, HAMLETS, MINES.
Erie & Jersey Railroad.—In the year 1904 a corporation was organized, known as the Erie and Jersey Railroad Company, which ostensibly was an independent line, to be built from a point on the Erie railroad west of Guymard, on a circuitous route, to the north of the present Erie railroad, to Turner. It was well understood that this road was a part of the Erie system, and was to be a double-track road, the projectors of which alleged that it would be used for freight, but as it shortened the route of the road and was a much easier grade, when completed, undoubtedly would be used by many fast express trains.
The condemnation laws of this State were not elastic enough to permit of taking property along the line of this route through the courts, and the greater part of the right of way had to be bought by the company, and fabulous prices were paid for its right of way, which was 130 feet wide. About eleven miles of this road is in the town of Mount Hope.