Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1869-03-12
Sunshine for the Consumptive.
BY DIR. HENRY I. BowDrTcH.

tives that one of the best prescriptions
we have made has been their removal
from north room to the sunny south
chamber. AS we write, two cases come
to mind, strikingly illustrative of the
suns benign influence. We had been
attending, at an orphan asylum, a girl
about twelve years old, who had long
been ill of severe typhoid fever. She
was wholly prostrated in mind and body,
and emaciated to the last degree. 1t
was plain that she was falling into that
depressed condition Of all the powers Of
life that so often precedes consumption.
Day after day We visited her, but all re-
operative power seemed lost. Half
dead and alive, the little creature neither
spoke nor moved, and ate only on com
pulsion. One day, on our way to visit
her, we felt that elastic thrill which the
warm rays of the sun impart in the ear
ly cool weather of spring. We involun-
tarily leaped along, and were instantly
struck with the fact that "virtue had
gone out of u.s." when we left behind US
the sunlight and warmth of the street,
and entered that northern chamber, the
dormitory of the poor orphan. That in
spiriting influence the invalid had never
experienced in the slightest degree dur
ing the whole of her sickness, as, owing
to its peculiar situation, not ray of di-
rect sunlight had ever entered the cham
Der. We were shocked, and for the first
time considered the depth of her loss,
and our own remissness in regard to her.
The air of the room had been pure, the
ceilings of the infrmary were lofty, the
attendants had been faithful and saga
cious. Nothing seemed lacking, in fact,
to restore health. Yet it did not come.
On the contrary, there seemed con-
slant downward tendency. "a sun-bath
in the warm rays of this delicions spring
day is what this girl needs" we instant
ly said to the sister superior. This lady
gladly consented to the change, and
placed the little patient in another room
having southern aspect, and conse-
quently filed with sunlight. The inva-
lid Immediately recognized the change,
and asked, in her weak way, to have the
curtains raised, so as TO let in the full
blaze of the light. Soon she wanted to
sit up, and directed that tue easy chair,
in which she was propped, should be so
placed as to allow her whole body below
her face to be exposed to the direct rays
of the sun. 1t was the natural tendency
of disease, seeking for all life-renovating
influences. And we have never met
with so marked or so rapid improvement
as Immediately began in the body and
mind of the girl. Appetite and strength
increased daily, and with them burst
forth again all the joyousness of the
child's heart.
Another analogous case, which, al
though we do not demonstrate by it the
influence of the sun alone, we cannot
forbear to name, because by such exam
pies we impress perhaps on the minds of
our readers the real principles underly-
ing the whole question. A lady aged
about thirty, resident in the northern
part of New England, consulted us for
undoubtcd tubercular disease of the
lungs. Her house was well situated, and
on the side towards the south was a small
piazza resting on stone steps, which was
raised two or three feet above the ground.
The winter was approaching and rules
were to be given. Having full faith in
these divine influences Of pure air and
sunlight, we directed that she should sit
out on this piazza every day during the
winter, unless it were too stormy. It
was so arranged as to shut out the cool
air on three sides, and to admit the full
blaze of sunlight in front. Here, ac-
cording to our directions, she used to sit
wrapped in furs, reading or writing for
several hours each day during the follow
ing winter, and with most excellent re-
suits. She was directed frequently to
make deep inspirations, in order to fill
the lungs with pure air. She was never
chilled, because the suns rays and her
warm clothing prevented it. She never
"took cold" there. On the contrary,
the balmy influences exerted upon her
by her daily sun and air bath were so
grateful; her breathing became so much
easier after each of them, that, whenev.
er storm came, and prevented the re-
sort to the piazza, the invalid suffered in
consequence thereof. Whether these re-
marks will prove to our readers that
want of sunlight may be reckoned among
the causes Of consumption may well be
doubted, but we trust that, at least, they
will convince some skeptics that sunlight
has potent influence in raising the hu-
man body from various weaknesses that
sometimes are the precursors of fatal