The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-16
A BLIND MAN MADE TO SEE.
Cured, Havana Physician Says, by
Means of the X-Rays.

From the New York Sun.
William H AIeadowcroft of the General
Electric Company has received a letter
from DR.. Francisco de p Astudl}o of Ha-
vana, describing a case of blindness cured
by the x-rays. In transmitting a copy of
the letter to the sun Mr. Nleadowcroft
says:
Personally do not know DR.. Astudillo,
except as a customer. have met him per-
sonally, and he impressed me as a gentle
man of scientific attanments and one
whose word I should feel quite willing to
rely upon"
In his letter DR.. Astudillo says:
Il have to-day the pleasure of writing
to inform you of the marvellous results
that l have obtained with the x-reys. 1
had many times encountered in cafe a
young blind man seeking aims, and one
day | asked him the cause of his infirmity
He told me that hes had been completely
blind and had not seen the light for twen-
" years; that many times before he had
become blind he had experienced pain in
his eyes whenever he turned his face to-
ward the sun. Twelve years ago he went
one night to the Theater Royal of Mad
rid and during the ev@ng, while in the
act of lighting a cigar, felt a strong pain
see.
He called on an oculist, who examined
his eyes and tsuggested a treatment for
fifteen days which gave no result what
ever. After visiting various noted ocu-
lists in Madrid and Barcelona without bet
ter results, he resolved to go to Paris,
where he was attended by those eminent
in diseases of the eyes, who said that he
had falling of the retina of the eyes and
that his infirmity was incurable. He added
that he had been obliged to implore public
charity so that he could live.
Il invited him to my house to try if the
X-rays could reach his optic nerve, in
which case, if the nerves were good, he
could see objects with the Horoscope, and
If he could not / should consider that his
infirmity was incurable. He acceded to my
request. on Aug. Is, instant he came in
the evening and I placed him before the
focus tube. l gave him the Horoscope,
and once the current was in activity he
gave a scream, because he had seen the
light. Then l placed before the screen my
hand and he saw it clearly, as also a ring
which 1 had on a finger. l placed a pair
of scissors in the center of a book of 800
pages, and he saw them perfectly.
''Then l took away the horoscope and
directed the rays of the tube directly at
the eyes without any screen. He saw a
shoe that I put across the rays, a straw
hat, rosary and various other objects.
Lastly, not to tire him too much, 1 sus-
pended the sitting. l repeated it on the
following day before Drs Cisneros and
Delgado. The young man told me that in
the morning he had seen the light of day,
but that after he had seen it a short time
il was submerged in darkness.
After making him see by transparency
distant objects, l decided to experiment 10
see if he could distinguish the colors and
forms of the objects with the reflected
al T 10 Y 70
did not reflect nor refract. With this OBJ
ject l focused the tube to the table with
an inclination of forty-fiVe degrees at a
distance of fifteen centimeters, and placed
the blind man in such a position that his
face formed with that part of the table on
which the rays of the tube would fall an
other angle of forty-five degrees and at
the same distance of fifteen centimeters.
At the VerteX of the angle, on the table, l
placed a paper on which 1 had written
with lead pencil the word hope.
"It is impossible to describe the effect
upon the poor blind man when he saw the
word directly 1 circulated the current
through the tube. He gave a heartrending
cry and said to me. Doctor, this is God
that tells me to hope. Yes, l will hope in
Him and trust to science Immediately 1
put IN range of his vision diary and
wrote the words Havana 'Avisos,' the
Iris etc. There could be no doubt the
rays had actually illuminated the paper
by reflection for those eyes which for
twelve years could not see the brightness
of the sun.
II pushed across spectrum and he per-
ceived distinctly all the colors. and finally
he saw clearly the features of a young
child of mine in a photograph.
Il suspended the sitting until the day
following, when TO my great surprise he
told me that he could now see clearly In
the light but that he could not see in the
shade. / subjected him anew to the rays
first direct and then reflected. l found
that he could read with the greatest clear
ness.
"The following day he could distinguish
black and white in the daylight, and aft
er three minutes Of exposure 10 the action
of the rays he gave a cry to tell me that
he could see a tube of crystal and the sup
port, which was a small rod of mahogany
wood, and could also distinguish and count
the flashes of the incandescent lamps that
were in my study.
Immediately / pushed into his ray of
vision an incandescent lamp covered with
a green shade, and he described the color
of the shade and read IN book clearly
At this moment l noted that he could only
see with the right eye, so l submitted to
the action of the X-rays the left eye, and
then by the natural light the objects
The best ocuhsts of this country had
examined him. and all agreed that the ret
ina of the left eve was completely sepa-
rated and that of the right almost sepa-
ra ted"