14 Extra High-altitude health cures against tuberculosis Sanatorium Schatzalp in Davos, 1909. Between 1870 and 1950 patients suffering from tuberculosis came from all over the world to seek treatment in the Alpine climate of the Grisons. This influenced the development of farming villages like Davos or Arosa into international resorts. Large sanatoriums with long terraces began to dominate the look of these villages.Photo: Raetian Museum + The sanatorium Bernina in Davos-Platz, around 1920.Photo: Raetian Museum + The Zurich sanatorium at Davos Clavadel, 1924.Photo: Emil Meerkämper, Raetian Museum + Rest cure in Davos, around 1900‒1920. The most important aspect of the tuberculosis therapy was to spend many hours every day outside in the fresh air. The German doctor Alexander Spengler, practising in Davos, had noticed that TB did not exist amongst the local population. He concluded that this was due to the Alpine climate and began treating his patients specifically with fresh Alpine air cures.Photo Raetian Museum + Patients during rest cure in Davos, c. 1910.Photo: Private collection + Doctors Lucius Spengler and Eduard Neumann examining a patient in the sanatorium Schatzalp in Davos, around 1905.Photo: Private collection + Pocket spittoon «Mignon», c. 1930. The phlegm brought up by TB patients was highly infectious. To stop the disease from spreading, all patients in the resorts had to carry a pocket spittoon with them at all times. It earned its nickname «blue Henry» because of its colour.Photo: Raetian Museum + Salon in the sanatorium Schatzalp Davos, around 1905. In some cases sanatoriums resembled luxury hotels. This was because patients, often wealthy, were spending months if not years there. The idea was to make their stay as enjoyable as possible. Social events were also being organized.Photo: Private collection + Katia Mann, wife of the writer Thomas Mann, spent time as a patient in the Forest sanatorium Davos in 1912. This inspired her husband for his novel «The Magic Mountain», published in 1924.Photo: ETH-library Zürich, Thomas-Mann-Archive / Photographer: unknown / TMA_0526 + Train ticket, c. 1950. The Swiss federal railways issued ‚open-ended’ return tickets because no-one knew how long the treatment of patients would last. Tickets remained valid until patients were cured and wished to return home.Photo: Raetian Museum, collection «Blue Henry» +