The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-12-29
CURING DISEASE BY LIGHT.
RESULTS so FAR OF THE USE
OF THE FINSEN RAY.
Apparent Cures Of Cases Of lance and
Consumption by Its Means-The APP
paratus and the Mode OF Treatment
-X-Rays rs al Auxiliary The outlook

-N.Rays rs an Auxuiary-Ihc OUTLOOK
Within a few years there has arisen a
school Of therapeutics SO different from
all the other forms Of treatment for diseases
and 80 simple In It's operations, that IL would
almost seem to lie without the limits OF
medical science Light Is the agenc Of
healing.
With different rays md combinations Of
rays II seeks to strike at the very root OF
disease, to destroy the deadly germs that
infect the blood and TO correct the abnormal
cellular growths that give rise TO many Of
the most hideous Of human ills.
For a long time the results Of such treat
ment were looked on with doubt, but now
the experiments in the laboratory Of Prof.
Finsen OF Copenhagen, Denmark: Of DR..
Andrew Clark Of the Middlesex Hospital,
England; of DIR. Hopkins Of Brooklyn: Of
DR.. Williams of Boston. and In hospitals In
New York, st. Louis and Chicago, seem to
show that the two greatest scourges of the
present age, cancer and consumption. can
be eradicated by the simple action Of in
tense light, while other minor diseases
succumb to II.
To Prof. Fnsen belongs the credit Of
phototherapy. Experiments satisfied him
that certain germs could not live In sun
light. He then set about d~evising a light
of great power which could be directed
upon the flesh without harm or pain.
The problem was to eliminate the great
heat which accompanies powerful rays
of light. After years Of labor he devised
q tube containing a quartz crystal lens,
which d~ecomposes an electric light Of
great power, diverting the heat rays to a
Jacket Of cold water, and directing the
heatless, actiric rays, blue, ultraviolet
and violet. down through the tube upon
the subject.
This apparatus has been mechanically
improved by DIR. Hopkins. so that by means
OF a hanging bracket the ray may be readily
directed upon any part of the body Of the
patient stretched on a cot beneath 1t.
The operating room of a ph~oto-thera-
peutic laboratory Is strangely unlike any
other operating room in its simplicity.
There is the ray-apparatus and the cot for
the patient; that is all. Besides the opera
tor, one nurse il in attendance.
Picture to yourself a huge hanging basket
OF ornamental iron swung from the ceiling,
and anonymously sprouting on one side
into a length Of shiny brass telescope.
This is the apparatus by which il is pro-
posed to conquer the most dreadful Of
human maladies, cancer.
Inside the three-foot circle of the black
iron is an electric light carbon so arranged
that when the electric current il turned
on. the light glows through the telescope
tube. The current strength is eighty
amperes, and the light produced is so daz-
cling that the eye cannot bear il, and the
surgeon must 90 hooded like a falcon.
Against the wall it's % 600 candle power
shows like the brightest of sunlight. This
radiance poured down through the tube
would quickly roast the flesh upon which
Il falls, were not the heat rays diverted
BY tbs quartz lens.
This lens is the difficult part of the in
strunent to obtain. Nothing serves the
purpose so well as quartz, but a piece Of
quartz from which a two-and-three-quarter-
inch lens can be cut. fawless and perfect,
is rare and expensive.
One operator in this country applied 10
a number of optical firms without success,
and finally wen to Tiffany 4 Co. who
placed a ton Of quart al hi disposal. our
Of this the largest perfect crystal he could
get would cut into a ems a little lass than
two inches. He had finally to send to
Copenhagen.
Now for the action Of hi, surgery Of
light. Suppose the patient to Zee suffering
from lupus, that cancer which destroys
the face, celebrating a. dr"aliullv ~
l-prp,y r-olf, every appearance Of humanity
He j. laid upon a cot under il" apparatus.
The tube Is drawn down uu,uI f IF. - within
an lnch Of the liberated -Urtao.. There
Is a sizzling sound a. tine operator tUrus
on the carrent, th" sru-hTiEht radiance
glitter, ou tine wall and uuui- down through
the quartz l'us upon tuH E~uA"ing cancer,
and. iUy,riNlv, the miracle j. Vurllug
FOR all Iour tHr patient must De- there
The lIgnt covers q -ppt about an inch b.
q .'tu"t'r When lue hour b. gpttI' -Iut has
pal"I o. lul- from th' angry rri around %.
~" u'At day another rIfHt b. tr,ai'd,
on toe uoAt ttul anut'"r The tpaturut
h daily, could nr uud,fEYu" half d dozen
times q day n thrrr vria tame, f,f the rIh-
J-rt f-l- uD rlu-li..u whatever Ih'rr
l. 90 physical ur n-ryuu- strain.
Presently a rtranEr uliug 10 r"ru a. ha,"
%hapian"d Aisuut tnr ssiE' shrr, ma" -lfr
be- h,on mpsl malignant r.lud rDaf trrur
Iosins g. form lUr .AI.r-r To- h,ing o.
.rri,t.i and contracted
A,~ and ASIAN D. m0s.- rally. pn,--irF
furs ariI No. aigfS fFr..- .I.t I'D. BE- i.a,ru
lash by too Destroying aiHI H.aIlrg Ia,
10 rnt 81 tha laiil, b. a.aa,- r, rau.r
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