The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-07
THE OPEN AIR CURE.
WHAT IT HAS DONE FOR RoB-
 ERT E. DAVIS,
Consumptive-Refuse to Cult India ma
 -Btg Gain in Weight-Strengthen ing the Lungs-Was His Own PhysI-


 clan.
 By living and sleeping out of doors in hot weather and in cold, and by a risorus system of outdoor exercise, Robert E, Davis of Derby claims that h. he has practically cured himself of con- sumption. What he says is substan- tiated by Derby physicians and people and by his own appearance.
 Davis has his office in building over looking the Ohio River, and from its double-track verandas a wonderful panorama of the Indiana hills, the sweep of the Ohio and the Kentucky shores beyond is spread out at his feet. From the valley in winter arise the chilling breezes from the ice-bound riv- CT gorge, and in summer clouds of va DOT that have generally been regarded as thoroughly impregnated with chills and fever. On this veranda, with it's three sides open and a ten-foot roof that only extends out the four foot width of the porch, Davis has lived and slept since January g, in all kinds of weather. One or two nights, when the rain was directly from the east and the wind so heavy that it would give it in on him he was compelled to move his cot into the doorway of his office, but he left the door and all of the windows open.
 He slept in the open during all the cold weather of the January and Feb ruary, when the Ohio River under him froze, and the snow swirled in and buried him and his cot. When he moved his bed out of the house, January 9, he was, the local physicians claim. in the second stages of consumption. He weighed 11S pounds, and he had just had his second heavy hemorrhage. Blood oozed into the lung cavity most of the time. His pulse was up to 120, and he was bed-ridden daily by hectic fever that arose toward noon, and which reflected the inflammation of the lungs on the cheek. He says his cir culation was so poor that though he would rub his flesh heavily with rough towels he could not raise the glow of color The only way he could tell that he had any blood was to cut himself, scratch his flesh or bring it up from his lungs.
 He says the physicians told him that he would have to go West, but in reply to this he stated that he could not He says they then insisted that he must have a change of climate. He says he found it by moving his bed and his daily and nightly existence out of his bedroom and his office, into the open air of Indiana.
 As he told this he was walking over the hills from his home in the country to his office in the town. He had rud- dy color. good coat of tan. and SO good a supply of lung capacity" and muscle that the hills of Perry county did not seem to worry him.
 At the top of one hill he sat down under tree so that his pulse could be tested. Instead of 12O it was beating S5 Later, when seated In his doorless and windOwless office, 1t showed but 75.
 Il IlLttc tfiStt SStt uc Situ, put IL is better than 120, and I will have it down to 6S or 72 in month more"
 He walked over to the scales and tipped them at 130 He threw back his chest and said:
 Feel those muscles. Do they feel like those of a consumptive?"
 They were hard, and indicated that his muscular system was in superb con- dition.
 seventeen pounds, but then I am of slight build. That gain. however, all seems to have been in hardening ma terial. My muscles were flabby. Now they are like bands of steel I take that kind of gain in weight to indi- cate exceptional health, for it is the weight of strong, healthy person."
 Davis then showed his bed and his home made appliances for treatment The bed, situated as previously stated, was an ordinary cot with wire springs. There was a good mattress and the or- dinary bed clothes, and light straw filled pillow. He changed the straw in it often. so that it may be light and airy. Old fashioned, quilted comforts but not heavily padded, were the cover- ings.
 These lighter comforts permit free circulation of air, while heavier, weighty ones would close down all around the sleeper and not serve so well, either for ventilation or warmth. Nothing was permitted to be stored un- der the bed, nor were there any obsta- cles on any of the three open sides of the porch to prevent free sweep of the wind. The bed had just been made up, and it lay full in warm sun bath that aired and disinfected it.
 In the open office Davis exhibited some of his own inventive genius as sanatorium builder. AS soon as Davis arises, no matter if the is registering below zero, he walks from his bed into the open office, where he throws aside his heavy woolen night robes and stepping into an old fashioned wash tub, places rubber hose around his neck and loosens a small clamp that permits the water to come down from an improvised tank and passing in the loop of rubber hose that extends around his neck and rests on his shoulders, falls over his body.
 Stepping out of my tub" said MT. Davis, "I have rubbed myself as long as my strength would permit, and then putting on some light, woolen and fan nel clothes that would allow free air have passed through a cvctar1 of nOyen1nDtS n91oyIIated tn in,