Edward Trudeau, M.D. was a physician from NYC in the late 1800s who was affected by a death from Tuberculosis of a close relative. Tuberculosis was a major cause of death at the time. He had heard of a M.D. in Europe who was using fresh air to help cure his patients and so he decided to open up a practice in the Saranac Lake area to treat this disease.

People rented out their homes and cottages around the lake and patients were placed in glass enclosed porches where they were given lots of fresh air, sunshine, and good nourishment. When author, Robert Louis Stevenson came down with T.B. he rented a cottage in Saranac and Doctor Trudeau was his physician. He did improve and left the cold climate, which he hated. I have read that today they are not sure if he had T.B. or something else, like bronchiectasis, but at that time I believe there was no question.

Today the Trudeau Institute is still in the Saranac area and does research on not only Tuberculosis, but other respiratory illnesses. We were fortunate to happen upon the institute while driving near the lake.

The cottage where Stevenson lived, wrote, and was treated for tuberculosis (shown in previous blog) is now a museum holding some of the author's belongings and books.

When driving to Saranac Lake you can see many little cottages that were used for the treatment of tuberculosis at that time. They were called "cure cottages." I was told that people could be seen walking around with masks over their faces and there were strict rules about wearing them and about spitting. This form of treatment did "cure" many people and was used until the discovery of Streptomycin.