Conquering Consumption with Exercise and Nature (Paperback)

Consumption was the deadliest, most common disease that mankind has faced up till now. Three billion people in Europe and North America died between the fourteenth and the end of the eighteenth century. It was a death sentence with no known cause which led to the development of unusual empirical therapies. Lucky Consumptive patients reached a Sanatorium. Sanatoria were developed to house sick patients in an environment where they stood the best chance of recovery from their illness. There was no organised healthcare system and funding for a Sanatorium depended upon provision provided by wealthy individuals, or societies. Charles Dunnell Rudd was a Cape Merchant who had made a fortune in South Africa successfully prospecting for Gold and Diamonds. His mother had died from Consumption and he wished to invest some of his money in building a Sanatorium. It had been shown that Consumptive patients survived longer if they took vigorous exercise, slept out of doors, and were nursed on higher land near to forests. Rudd anonymously purchased raised land at Northwood for this purpose. Helena (later Princess Christian) was Queen Victoria's third daughter, and had a marked social awareness, arranging charitable meals for the less fortunate. She was very hard working and became the Principal Patron for Mount Vernon Hospital, donating money and attending annual fundraising Festival Dinners. Contemporary photographs from this period show female patients walking around the grounds and occupying designated rest shelters. The male patients had a more vigorous lifestyle, working in the gardens and sleeping in their beds out of doors. Those surviving often acquired new skills which might enhance their future employment prospects. These measures greatly improved the prognosis for consumptive patients. After Koch discovered the Tubercle Bacillus effective curative anti-tuberculous therapy evolved.