When you have a slight cough that "hangs on"; when you feel feverish every afternoon; when you are short of breath; when you get tired very easily; when you do not feel like eating anything except candies and cakes--then you should think of consumption. These are not all the signs, but they are enough to make you go at once to a doctor. A long time ago the doctor would have felt badly if he had been obliged to tell you that you had consumption; but now he knows that if you go to him early in the disease and follow his directions, you will get well. [Sidenote: How consumption is cured: (_1_) By rest] When the doctor finds that a person has consumption, the first thing he orders is rest. By this he means absolute _rest_. He does not mean that the patient can go to school or to the office part of the day and rest the remainder of the day. The doctor will want to watch him constantly. Then there comes a time when he must begin to take a little exercise; the doctor tells him just how much exercise to take, and just what form of exercise is best for him. [Sidenote: (_2_) By fresh air] The consumptive must have plenty of fresh air all the time; he must be out-of-doors as much as possible. You will wonder how the doctor expects him to be out-of-doors when he has been told that he must have absolute rest. Later we will show you how one can practically be out-of-doors and yet at the same time be in bed. [Sidenote: (_3_) By sunshine] Sunshine will kill the germs of any disease more quickly than almost anything we know of, and a consumptive must have all the sunshine that he can get. Of course it cannot get into the body to kill the germs, but it strengthens the cells of the body so much that they can fight with just that much more energy. [Illustration: FIGS. 72 and 73. Living outdoors in cold weather.] [Sidenote: (_4_) By nourishing food] Nothing is more important than pure food in building up the body and in making heat and power. In consumption the food that is stored up in the body burns itself up very fast. The consumptive must therefore take not only the food needed to supply the usual demands of the body, but enough to make something extra for the disease to burn up without drawing on the reserve fund stored in the body. In order to do this, he will have to eat a great deal, and what he eats must be of the kind that makes the best building material and the most nourishing material. He cannot tax his stomach by eating things that are not nourishing; all the work his stomach can do must be devoted to the foods he really needs. The weapons with which we fight consumption are rest, good food, fresh air, and sunshine. These will do more good than all the medicine in the world. Fresh air is not only one of the best things for the cure of consumption, but it is one of the best things for the prevention of consumption. You should always breathe plenty of fresh air night and day, and there is plenty of fresh air to be had if you will take it.