Excerpt from The Canadian Journal of Medicine and Surgery, Vol. 6: Toronto, July, 1899 The sources of the material are as follows: Suspected exudates have been received from 45 municipalities (in nine municipalities all the physicians send through the medical health officer); suspected tuberculous sputum, from 94 municipalities and 115 physicians; typhoid blood, 11 municipalities and 18 physicians. The work in the examination of sputum has shown a very marked increase, which seems to be continuing. By months the specimens of sputum have been as follows: January, 41; February, 51; March, 59; April, 67; May, 74. This makes for the first five months of the year almost as many specimens as during the whole of last year. For the first four months the total specimens were as follows: Sputum, 218 (with these I received 138 history cards); diphtheria, 202 specimens (for which I received 123 history cards); typhoid blood, 26 samples (for which I received 14 history cards); water samples - bacteriological, 13; chemical, 16; miscellaneous examinations, 51; total for first four months, 526. The largest number of history cards were received in the case of suspected tuberculous sputum, namely, 138. Although this number is not very large I have attempted to extract what information I can from these cards to submit to you. Some of the results are interesting, but until we possess a much larger number of cases, must be taken with reserve. Of the 138 cases in which cards were sent in 57 were positive, 81 negative. Upon the history card the age of patient is asked. The results according to age are as follows: Under 10 years: 2 specimens (1 positive, 1 negative), percentage, positive, 50; 10 years to 20 years: 22 specimens (8 positive, 14 negative), percentage, positive, 36.3; 20 years to 30 years: 46 specimens (23 positive, 23 negative), percentage, positive, 50; 30 years to 40 years: 33 specimens (11 positive, 22 negative), percentage positive, 33.3; 40 years to 50 years: 21 specimens (12 positive, 9 negative), percentage, positive, 57.1; over 50 years: 14 specimens (2 positive, 12 negative), percentage, positive, 14.2. Another question on the history card asks for the duration of symptoms before the specimen was sent. From the answers the following figures have been obtained: Symptoms existing 1 month and under: 18 specimens (positive 3, negative 15), percentage, positive, 16.6; 1 to 2 months: 26 specimens (positive 9, negative 17), percentage, positive, 34.6; 2 to 3 months: 14 specimens (positive 7, negative 7), percentage, positive, 50.0; 3 to 6 months: 27 specimens (positive 15, negative 12), percentage, positive, 55.5; 6 to 12 months: 28 specimens (positive 13, negative 15), percentage, positive, 46.4; 1 to 2 years: 8 specimens (positive 5, negative 3), percentage, positive, 62.5; over 2 years: 15 specimens (positive 4, negative 11), percentage, positive, 26.6. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.