The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1902-12-02
THE x.RAy AS
A CURATIVE AGENT

CINCINNATI Noumb,f l1. one OF
ihc most interesting raurr uf ih' aos.
zion Of the Academy u. Medicine waH
the one read last nIght before that
body by Dr william Jordan Taylor
hose work with the N-ray has
brought him into prominence. 20 was
on this subject that Dr. Taylor enter
,ainod and instructed bis colleagues.
beginning with the theory upon which
the mysterious rays are based and their
use in medicine as a therapeutic ana
diagnostic agent To show the advance
that has been made In their use he
showed that while In 1896, when the
rays we're first being employed, % at
c!dents had occurred, as against ] Ia
1901. Dr. Taylor stated that he had dis
covered the therapeutic or curing quail
tiles OF the X-rays in 1897 by a simple
accident At the time he was an in
terne in the City Hospital, where a
conductor of the Big Four Railroad
was one of the patients. The man was
suffering from "A tuberCular knee joint,
and the surgeon in charge had decided
that the entire leg had to be amputat-
ed To preserve a picture OF the pc
Culiar joint Dr. Taylor was asked to
make an %-ray picture. The day was
cloudy and no good picture was obtain
ed. and the doctor tried "A second time
the day following, with the same re-
suit. On the third day Huber submit
ted to another exposure, and then
strange and startling discovery wa
made. the Inflammation in the joint had
entirely disappeared and then the doc
tor began to think He asked that the
operation be delayed another day, ano
again the result was most gratifying.
again the result was almost gratifying.
Thus from day to day Huber had the
X-rays turned on him, and in two
weeks he left the City Hospital on two
good legs, and is back at his old work.
Citing other cases where the rays
have achieved wonderful results the
speaker showed that In five classes OF
diseases they could be relied upon for
accomplishing wOnders-the removal of
superfluOus hair, diseases of the hair,
ringwOrm, where removal of hair Is
essential; inflammatory conditions of
the tissues. ulcers and eczema Ond in
lupus consumption Of the skim and in
cancer. His most novel proposition,
and one that is even new to the medi-
cal profession, was that as sleep pro-
ducers the X-rays have no equal To
prove his statements he presented the
case of young lady who, up to seven
months ago. had Stubby beard like
man, and who never ventured on The
street without a veil. She submitted to
several exposures of the rays, and her
face is now as smooth as that of the
average young lady, and she suffered
no pain under the process, nor did the
hair return. Another case cited was
that of a man who was for sixteen
years afflicted with lupus OF the lip,
and in all that time was never without
pain. Nine exposures to the rays ef
fected a complete cure.
The most startling statement, how
ever, was when the doctor declared
that cancer Of internal organs could be
cured by this same mysterious agent,
by means of tube recently construct
ed by Electrician Caldwell, of New
York. This tube has a speculum at
one end which can be inserted in the
throat, II the cancer lies in that region,
and the rays thrown as deeply as de-
sired.
At the conclusion of the reading a
lengthy discussion followed by many Of
the physicians present, and the con-
sensus Of opinion was that DIR. Taylor
had contributed a valuable paper to
science.
DR.. Wood of Honolulu, who with his
partner, DR.. Day, has been experiment
ing with the curative values of the
X-ray, is in substantial accord with the
conclusions reached by the Cincinnati
physician. DR.. Wood says that he
dissipation of cancer by use of the ray
is entirely feasible, the recent litera-
ture on the subject being full of exam
pies.