The Lamar register., 1905-06-28
! ''White P1ague'' Victims Seek
s Health in the Polar Seas |

of mine for many years, and which
through the aid of number of gen.
erous men will now be put into oper-
alton, is the sequel to my own expert
ence in the polar regions. l accom-
panied Commander Perry in 1897, and
was at the time slightly affected by
tuberculosis myself. l improved SO
rapidly, despite the hardships of the
journey. and was so vastly benefited
that I was struck with wonder at
what the arctic regions could do for
persons so affected. That, to repeat,
was during the 1897 expedition.
Five years afterward, on accom-
panying the Peary relief expedition,
made an exhaustive study of the sub
ject of the curative properties of the
Far North for consumption. In order
to bring the reader to a better real
ization of this vast and vital scourge,
1t may be said that tubercle bacilli
do not necessarily lead to hopeless
extremes. but 1t is the resulting mixed
infection with pyogenic organisms
which occasions danger. The indica-
tions are to have an environment free
from all sources of dangerous extra
conditions as to encourage a restora-
tion of vitality and vigor by which the
! disease is stifled, SO to say.
these conditions can be met in
perfection in some of the Greenland
fjords. The suggestion of their adap-
liability to this purpose has nothing
strange or experimental for its foun-
dation. 1t proposes something easily
obtainable and better than We have at
present-the highest development Of
all that has proved beneficial in the
rational treatment of tuberculosis.
"Our present procedures. II thor
| oughly carried out. ought to cure
proportion of cases far beyond what
are usually accepted as fair results.
| One person in four contracts tuber-
culosis. and one death in seven is
! from this cause alone-which would
| imply only "A per cent of recoveries.
"A summer spent in Omenak ford
or Inglefeld gulf, where we purpose
| anchoring and biding while. would
serve to establish cure, or insure
its accomplishment afterward, in near
| ly all cases not hopelessly advanced.
| Three consumptives to my knowl-
| edge have gone to these places and
| in each case the cure was immediate
and effectual. Two of them were for
three months in the Peary expedition,
and the third. well advanced case,
| was for nine months aboard whaler.
| Some Eskimos brought to this country
soon contracted virulent tuberculosis,
four of them quickly succumbing. one
being still uncured here, while the
only one who returned to his native
| SHOWS recovered One hundred per
| cent of recoveries in four cases is of
course not conclusive evidence, still
1t includes all known cases. So We
are warranted in drawing the most
promising conclusions.
while it is difficult to believe that
cure may be worked in a few
months, 1t is also hard to compre-
bend the unfamiliar conditions of so
strange a climate and country as ex-
ist up there. In the Arctic circle
there Is a natural forcing Of every
thing that invites natural cure. Two
days of sunshine are rolled into one.
with an increase of the rays that in
| fiuence metabolism, as the polar at
| mosphere is shorn of ingredients
which with US interfere with the
transmission of vibrations beyond
| the violet For instance, the indef-
mite depressing conditions which pre-
cede a thunderstorm are not felt
where our lightning is replaced by the
aurora borealis. There can be no
more healthful place than where there
is no putrefaction of animal matter
or decay OF vegetable substances. as
illustrated by pieces of rope and pine
wood which lay exposed to all wealth
! ering influences for thirteen years
at Cape Sabine among skins and ref
use, and not yet begun to decay.
1--WE expect to be back in Halifax