The Minneapolis journal., 1902-08-11
THE BALLOON CURE.
Local Physicians Admit That the
: Theory Sounds Plausible.
UPPER AIR FREE FROM GERMS
The Scheme Is Based Upon Right
Scientific Principles. Employing
Natures Own Remedies.'

"It's fine idea! A very clever thought!
And a new one, tool" said DR.. J. w. Bell
at his office in the Andrus building this
morning when his attention was directed
to cablegram from Paris announcing that
a DR.. Naugier had suggested to. the Acad-
emy of Medicine the possibility of curing
consumption by balloon ascensions.
sanatorium 10, 900 feet above the earth was
recommended. In his daily "constitu-
tionals' above the clouds the patient will
experience, says DR.: Naugier, the effect
Of the most powerful tonic known. A
two hours excursion so far from the
madding crowd so remote from the ba-
cilli and the bother Of the world, will
cause an astonishing multiplication of the
red corpuscles in the blood. The improved
condition, moreover, will persist for ten
days or more after the joyous invalid has
come back to earth.
But DR.. Bell, although he has paid spec
ial attention to the treatment of tuber-
culosis, admitted that the balloon cure
was a novelty.
Still I'm not prepared to say he
added, that it might not prove effective.
The benefit of elevation in this disease
has long been recognized, especially when
the patient can remain out of doors at
such elevation and can be Kept apart from
other persons afflicted with the same NAL
ady I don't recall the vital statistics for
Quito or any of the larger cities notably
high above sea level, but know that the
Inhabitants Of the Andes and of lofty
mountains in general are seldom troubled
with tuberculosis. If the person taking
/ the balloon cure could ascend in a re-
| gion far from centers Of industry and
| population he would certainly enjoy the
| effect of breathing as nearly germ1ess air
as one can find outside of laboratories.
''The only question is, could a balloon
| be anchored at sufficiently great eleva-
tion-to accomplish the results? Could you
| fasten your hospital to the end of a
| long rope and reel in your patient for the
/ morning visit? And if the sanatorium
| was tied down, how could the patient be
/ kept aloft long enough to get an ade-
/ quate treatment. But of course, it might
be different, if DR.. Naugier is not mis-
! taken In asserting that two hours in q
balloon is worth hogshead of codliver
OIL"
DR.. Leo M. Crafts, who has been asso-
ciated with DR.. Bell in an effort to Sc
cure Minnesota sanitaria for consump-
tives but who who does not devote spe-
l cial attention to tuberculosis cases, said
that he doubted the value of the an
/ nounced experiments. $50 far as the
cablegram shows said DR.. Crafts, ttthe
experiments have not been continued for
/ a long enough time to he convincing nor
have they included sufficiently wide va
riety Of cases. And how does going up in
balloon differ from ascending a high
mountain? unless, perhaps, the psychic
effect of the novel experience may stitnu-
late the patient abnormally. It's possi-
BILE, also, that the great elevation, COM
bined with absence from the earth itself
its germs and it's magnetic currents
these things and the probable difference
In the atmosphere remote from any por-
tion of the earth, may bring about re-
suits unlike those to be secured on
mountains. Still another objection is the
nervous irritation likely to be caused by
travelling per balloon. Most consumptives
are already suffering from an impaired
condition of their nervous systems.
"Yet much good may come from the bal
loon cure if it really multiplies the red
corpuscles. An abundance of red cor
puscles would mean healthy, vigorous
blood, able to throw off tuberculosis
germs. Besides, this cure has been con-
sidered by highly respectable body of
physicians, the French academy Of medi-
cine. 1t is not specific medication but
it, is another form of nature cure, like
fresh air and nutritious food"