=Care of the Family.= We have already said that the first consideration is the patient’s family, or those individuals who come in contact with him. Therefore, as soon as he himself is under satisfactory supervision, the nurse must turn her attention to the other members of the household who need her even more. A majority of the nurse’s patients are either advanced or last-stage cases, many of them having a history extending over months or perhaps even years of illness. If during this time the nature of the disease has been unknown; or known, and no precautions have been taken, there is great likelihood that other members of the family have also become infected. To discover these suspicious cases and get them examined and under treatment as soon as possible, is one of the nurse’s first responsibilities. Next, she must give careful attention to those other members of the family who so far have apparently escaped. She must not over-alarm or frighten them, but she must keep before them the fact that they are in close contact with a highly infectious disease, and that whatever lowers their resistance, increases in like manner their chances of contracting it. They must employ every means in their power to raise their vitality to a point where they cannot be reached. An infectious disease does not, as a rule, gain entrance into a constitution strong enough to resist it. To this end, the nurse should pay particular attention to the personal hygiene of the exposed family. Their bedrooms and sleeping quarters should receive as careful consideration as do those of the patient. Every one in the house should be taught the value of fresh air, and the necessity of sleeping with wide-open windows; the measures needed to get people well are equally necessary to keep them well. The family also needs careful instruction as to food and rest: food, nourishing and well cooked; rest, which should at least mean that at the end of a day’s work they do not exhaust their vitality in crowded poolrooms, dance halls, and saloons. The need of recreation is one of the fundamental needs of mankind, but there is a difference between that which refreshes and that which undermines the constitution. Whether this fatigue comes from work, play, or excesses of any kind, it is usually the worn-out individual who first succumbs to exposure. In all households there is great need for instruction along these lines. There are weary, indifferent parents, and heedless boys and girls whose ignorance of personal hygiene is profound. The fact that much of this teaching falls on apparently stony ground shows the need for redoubled effort—which will in time bear fruit. Those in contact with tuberculosis must be continually on their guard against it—disease does not, as a rule, attack those who are in sound health.