The record-union., 1899-04-24
ILLS OF THE FLESH.
NOVEL DEVICES FOR THEIR
TREATMENT.
Roasting and Freezing the Disease
Germs-Bathing in Electric
Light-Music Cure.

uS1c OuIes
Like mushrooms. new contrivances
ana novel devices in medical treatment
are spr1nglng up every day. The SICK
ana the aldng cannot complain OF
iack OF fresh things in restorative pro-
cesses. They can bring no charge oil
inactivity or inattention against those
VINO devote their time to inventinG ana
arranging new methods of annihilatinS
the las of the flesh. Those who have
tired of the old fashioned systems can
take their choice of a dozen modern
remedies which are turning up their
noses and kicking dust at the ways ana
customs of the old schools. The con-
trasts furnished by the new schemes
are startling, for some of them are
about as far apart as the north and
the south poles
The sufferer can roast his disease out
or freeze it out; or can have it shaken
out of him or rest till it disappears; he
can electrocute his visiting microbes or
he can 'think"them away; he can be
cured by music or by osteopathic ma
nipulation, or he may depend on elec-
tric light baths, nitrogen injected into
the pleura, or mud baths-that is if
these remedies will do all that is claim
ed for them
New things are always scorned and
sneered at by conservatives, but new
ness alone has never permanently
damned anything. From apparently
good evidence it would seem that all Of
the cures referred to, or at least most of
them. have proved more or less bened-
cial in a number of instances. Some of
them are yet SO new that there has been
no opportunity for them to demonstrate
their virtues or lack of them. 1t is as
serted that some of these operations are
as old as the hills and are simply eX-
periencing a renaissance. In a few in
stances this is undoubtedly true, but
the rejuvenescence has been so long de-
layed that they are practically brand,
splinter new
Recently the most sweeping claims
have been made by the American cleo
trician, Tesla, and by Raoul Pictet,
French scientist, who has come TO the
United States. The electrician, in brief,
proposes to destroy all microbes and
bacteria by electrocution. He claims
that he has invented a new way of ap-
plying an electric current of great
power to the body in such manner
out injuring the patient 1t is claimed
that currents to be used will be as great
in force as those which ordinarily kill
people, but the method of application
will be such that the subject will not
be given even the least pain.
The proposition of the French scient-
ist is almost equally as startling. He
proposes to freeze until they are lifeless
all disease germs and microbes. He has
invented a tiny we'll in which the pa
tient ensconces himself for the freezing
process. In one way the freezing cure
somewhat resembles the germ electro
cution cure just described. The temper
ature to which the cure subjects the
patient it seems, would necessarily
cause death from freezing the body,
but, like the electrician, the Frenchman
says he has a method which obvietes
all injurious effects. For producing the
low temperature liquefied air is used,
which, it is claimed does not have the
same effect upon the body as frigid air
in it's normal state. 1t is asserted by
the Inventor that his process is not in
the experimental stage by any means
He maintains that many cures have al
ready been effected in France, and that
no evil whatever has resulted from the
application of the arctic temperature.
In startling contrast to this last de-
vice is the hot air cure, which its spon-
sors claim wiu conquer all forms of
rheumatisms and a score of other
troubles by fairly roasting them out of
the PATIENTS system. The high tenn
perature is applied directly to those
parts of the body which are affected
For this purpose there are machines or
rather receptacles into which the parts
to be treated are inserted. These re-
ceptacles are veritable ovens, and are
closed as nearly as possible during the
operation. There is one machine for the
trunk or body, another for legs and a
third for arms. Where the part pro-
trudes from the oven a diaphragm at
tached to the oven opening is folded
about it so that as little heat as pos
sible may escape. A temperature of
200 or 300 degrees and sometimes even
higher is applied in the treatment. OF
course such a degree is more than
enough to boil water or bake meat and
wonder is expressed that patients are
not roasted alive The perspiration of
the subject would be made to boil if
there were not an arrangement to pre-
vent it, The parts in the oven are al
ways swathed in cotton, which quickly
absorbs all moisture Of the body.
Bathing in electric light is something
else that is new. On the South Side,
at a branch establishment of one of
the best know sanitariums in the coun-
try, this odd treatment is constantly in
use The men and women patients use
differently arranged baths, the one for
women being far more elaborate. The
womens bath is in cabinet about ten
feet long, seven feet high and three feet
broad The upper part of the cabinet
on the interior is arehed lined with
mirrors and studded with scores of in
candescent electric lights. The bather
lies down on a strip of plate glass sup
ported in a frame, and is rolled into
the cabinet much as a coffin is rolled
into hearse. The head is left pro-
truding from the cabinet, in order that
the eyes may not be subjected to the
fierce light. Below the glass, on which
the body reclines. are several dozen
more incandescent blubs. These, CT