Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-02-07
COOKS A SICK MAN WELL
PUT INTO A HOT STOVE AND
BAKED UNTIL CURED.

| - NNoHSSAHS- t-io
English publications are giving some
space to what they call the baking
cure" by which a sick man is described
as being put into q stove and cooked
until he is we'll" A hospital devoted
to this treatment has just been estab-
lished at London, and the idea seems
to be wholly novel over there.
In this city, on the other hand, where
| 1t is known as thermaerotherapy-
word etymologically unimpeachable,
but to be found only in the newest die
| tionaries-also called the treatment by
superheated air, Bellevue has used the
| process several years, and n private
| hospital on the west side of the city
practices it almost exclusively. An
other such institution exists in Phila-
| delphia, and still others in Cincinnati
and Chicago.
The theory Of the dry-hot-air cure
is 10 intensity the benefits of Turkish
and similar baths. The patients head
| being outside the machine, and in at
mosphere OF ordinary temperature, his
body can stand much more heat than
If the exposure thereto was complete
AS the treatment is essentially local,
provided nothing is the matter with his
head, there is no need for a man to
breathe other air than he is used to.
There is nothing startling in the gen
eral conception OF calorific therapeu-
tics. The hot-water bag is one express
sion of the principle, and the homely
mustard plaster another. The ruins
CT Athens, Alexandria, Bagdad. Cairo,
| Constanc;nople, Damascus, Hercula-
neum, Pompeii, and Rome contain the
remains of hot-air baths unequalled
to-day. Among the famous baths of
the Eternal City, those of Agrippa,
Caracalla, Diocletian, and Titus, none
was without its caldarium, or hot-air
chamber. Hippocrates, CELSIUS and
Calen eXtolled hot air as therapeutic
agent. The Turkish bath is really a
Roman revival. Constantine intro
duced it into Byzantium after his con-
quest.
The introduction of the thermaero-
therapic apparatus at once raised the
temperature to which it is possible to
subject the human body from ITO to
400 degrees. OF course, neither the
whole body nor any vital organ can be
put to any such heat. Between 275
and $50 degrees is the hottest that is
safe for the trunk. To discriminate
among beneficial temperatures, three
machines are used-the body, the leg
and arm and the local styles. The body
and the leg and arm machines differ
only in size, shape and few minor de-
tails. The walls consist of three con-
centric cylinders, separated by spaces
OF an inch and a half. The outermost
cylinder is of nickel-plated sheet cop
per, lined with asbestos to minimize
the external radiation of heat; the
middle cylinder, of sheet steel, also
asbestos lined; and the third OF brass,
with cork ribs to protect the patient
from burning.
Bunsen burners, as many as may be
required, supply the heat to the space
between the steel and copper cylinders
and the products of combustion pass
OFF through three fues. The steel cyl
inder radiates the heat through many
perforations in the brass upon the
body Of the patient. Fresh air is con-
stantly fed into the second space, or
circulating jacket, and escapes into the
fues after it has been vitiated.
The patient lies upon q mat of
fibrous magnesia, covering a layer Of
asbestos. The cylinders are mounted
upon massive metal legs, and at either
end of the body machine are wooden
extensions for the head and lower
limbs to rest upon. The apparatus.
looks like combination of bed and
stove, which indeed it is. 1t weighs
about fifty pounds and the leg and arm
machine 400. The latter has Il glass
door through which the attendant may
watch the limb. The local device is
cork-rimmed instrument with various
attachments for the application of a
swift current of hot air to the ear, all
sorts OF common sores, and other pain
full spots. The attendant manipulates
the contrivance and regulates the tenn
perature. The air comes from tank
where it is stored under pressure, and
is heated as released.
The treatment is employed to reduce
obesity and relieve writer's cramp, foa
rheumatism, neuralgia, sciatica and
gout, pneumonia, asthma and pleurisy,
boils and ulcers, but not tumors and
cancers.
The great danger is OF literally roast
ing the patient to death, although no
such fatality is on record. In addition
TO the protection afforded by the mag
pesia mat and the cork ribs of the
brass cylinder, each patient wears a
bathrobe of outing flannel, and must
satisfy his physician in a physical eX-
animation not only of the nature Of his
ailments, but of his ability to endure
the process. His temperature, pulse
and respiration are taken, and if his
heart and lungs are not all right. the
usual treatment is modified according
ly. If they are radically wrong, he
will have to seek some other remedy
The average stay in the body-machine
is from fofty-five minutes to an hour