Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1902-08-21
BALLOON CURE
FOR CONSUME lVES
PHYSICIANS ADMIT THAT THE
THEORY SOUNDS PLAUSIBLE.
NO GERMS IN UPPER AIR
Scientific Principles, Employing
Natures Own Remedies-Peope
Living on Mountain Tops Escape
Lung Troubles.

It's a fine ideal A very clever
thought. And a new one, tool" said
a local doctor when his attention was
directed to a cablegram from Paris
announcing that DR.. Naugier had
suggested to the Academy of Medi-
cine the possibility of curing con-
sumption by balloon ascensions. A
sanitarium 10000 feet above the
earth was recommended. In his daily
"constitutionals" above the clouds
the patient will experience, says DR..
Naugier, the effect of the most power
full tonic known. A two hours excur-
sion so far from the maddening
crowd" so remote from the bacili
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 our Madison doctor, although
he has paid some attention to the
treatment of tuberculosis, admitted
that the balloon cure was a novelty.
still I'm not prepared to say" he
added, that it might not prove effect
i've The benefit of elevation in this
disease has long been recognized es-
pecially when the patient can remain
out of doors at such elevation and
can be kept apart from other persons
afflicted with the same malady. |
don't recall the vital statistics for
Quito or any of the larger cities no
tably high above the sea level, but |
know that the inhabitants of the An
des and of lofty mountains in general
are seldom troubled with tuberculo-
sis. If the person taking the balloon
cure could ascend in a region far
from centers of industry and popula-
ton he would certainly enjoy the
effect of breathing as nearly germlesS
air as one can find outside of labora-
tories.
"The only question is, could a
balloon be anchored at a sufficiently
great elevation to accomplish the re-
suits? Could you fasten your hos
pital to the end of a long rope and
reel in your pati mt for the morning
visit? And if he sanitOrium 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 mistaken in asserting that two
hours in balloon is worth a hogs
head of codliver oil.'
Another doctor who has been asso-
ciated with an effort to secure Wis
consin sanitarium 'or consumptives
said that he doubted the value of
the announced experiments. $50 far
as the cablegram shows" said he,
"the experiments have not been con-
tinued for long enough time to be
convincing, nor have they included a
sufficiently wide variety of cases. And
how does going up in balloon differ
from ascending a high mountain, un.
less perhaps the psychic effect of the
patient abnormally. It's possible, al
SO, that the great elevation, combined
with absence from earth itself, it's
germs and its magnetic currents
these things and the probable differ
ence in the atmosphere remote from
any portion of the earth, may bring
about results unlike those to be Sc
cured on mountains. Still another
objection is the nervous irritation
likely to be caused by travelling per
balloon. Most consumptives are al
ready suffering from an impaired
condition of their nervous systems.
Yet, much good may come from
the balloon cure if it really multiplies
red corpuscles. An abundance of
red corpuscles would mean healthy,
vigorous blood, able to throw off tu-
berculosis germs. Besides, this cure
has been considered by a highly re-
spectacle body of physicians, the
French academy of medicine It is
not specific dedication but it is an
other form of nature cure, like fresh
air and nutritious food"