<P> A sanatorium (also spelled sanitorium and sanitarium) is a medical facility for long - term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in the late - nineteenth and twentieth century before the discovery of antibiotics . A distinction is sometimes made between "sanitarium" (a kind of health resort, as in the Battle Creek Sanitarium) and "sanatorium" (a hospital). </P> <P> The first suggestion of sanatoria in the modern sense was likely made by George Bodington, who opened a sanatorium in Sutton Coldfield in 1836 and later published his essay, On the Treatment and Cure of Pulmonary Consumption, in 1840 . His novel approach was dismissed as "very crude ideas and unsupported assertions" by reviewers in the Lancet, and his sanatorium was converted to an asylum soon after . The rationale for sanatoria in the pre-antibiotic era was that a regimen of rest and good nutrition offered the best chance that the sufferer's immune system would "wall off" pockets of pulmonary TB infection . In 1863, Hermann Brehmer opened the Brehmersche Heilanstalt für Lungenkranke in Görbersdorf (Sokołowsko), Silesia (now Poland), for the treatment of tuberculosis . Patients were exposed to plentiful amounts of high altitude, fresh air, and good nutrition . Tuberculosis sanatoria became common throughout Europe from the late - 19th century onward . </P> <P> The Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium, established in Saranac Lake, New York, in 1885, was the first such establishment in North America . According to the Saskatchewan Lung Association, when the National Anti-Tuberculosis Association (Canada) was founded in 1904, its members, including renowned pioneer in the fight against tuberculosis Dr. R.G. Ferguson, believed that a distinction should be made between the health resorts with which people were familiar and the new tuberculosis treatment hospitals: "So they decided to use a new word which instead of being derived from the Latin noun sanitas, meaning health, would emphasize the need for scientific healing or treatment . Accordingly, they took the Latin verb root sano, meaning to heal, and adopted the new word sanatorium ." </P> <P> Switzerland used to have many sanatoria, as health professionals believed that clean, cold mountain air was the best treatment for lung diseases . In Finland, a series of tuberculosis sanatoria were built throughout the country in isolated forest areas during the early 1900s . The most famous was the Paimio Sanatorium, completed in 1933, designed by world - renowned architect Alvar Aalto . It had both sun - balconies and a rooftop terrace where the patients would lie all day either in beds or on specially designed chairs, the Paimio Chair . In Portugal, the Heliantia Sanatorium in Valadares, was used for the treatment of bone tuberculosis between the 1930s and 1960s . </P>

When was the first sanatorium for tuberculosis treatment opened