Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1905-02-13

think II was In the year 1878, that
John Addington Symonds, a delightful
and too little known poet, critic and
essayist, wrote a series of articles to
the English Nineteenth Century Re.
view from the little village Of Davos
Plat2, 5000 odd feet up In the Swiss
Engadine.
He had lone there, suffering from
thisis and told OF the extraordinary ef'
fct OF the new open mir treatment on
himself and many others. Up TO about
that time the European consumptlve,
could he afford It, had been sent on
a long sea voyage, perhaps to Austria
liza, through tho tropics. or more often
had gone to winter In Madeira. or the
Sannp valo of Orotava In Teneriffe.
Others found refuge in the south of
France or along the Riviera, ut Nice,
Cannes and st. Reno, by the blue and
tideless waters Of the Mediterranean,
where the winters were mild with
much sunshine, and where, at least,
the growth Of the disease was check.
ed.
Those who could not afford 1t and
they were always the majority, linger-
ed ON at home. shut up In hot rooms
and. perhaps, II the sun shone bright
| ", were wheeled out Of doors once
! in while.
The whole idea had been to keep the
invalid sfrota exposure. draughts and
cold to dose him with tonics. to keep
up the system and above all to keep
him indoors. II Is sad to think Of how
many slowly faded away In those days
that could now be saved.
One can imagine then the surprise
when Symonds told Of wintering in the
high Alps. with three and four feet Of
snow around. Sleeping with windows
wide open and tha thermometer below
zero and lying all day in the open air
To subject an emaciated consumptive.
who had hardly strength enough TO
walk, to any such treatment seemed TO
men then to be .courting a collapse.
and yet at this present moment there
are | should say, 5000 invalids from
all parts Of Europe at Davos alone. un-
dergoing this treatment, while Arosa,
st. Moritz, Leysin. Sepey and Chateau
d'oex to mention few, yearly receive
their thousands Of health-seokers. AL.
most every nation In Europe has Its
huge national sanitarium at Davos sup
ported by voluntary contributions,
where patients can get care and the
most experienced medical attendance
In the world for practically nothing,
whilst hotels Of all nationallties,
French. English, German and Dutch
have sprung up to accommodate those
only slightly affected.
viii try to describe the treatment
First Of all physic Except creosote
where II does not interfere with diges
tion) is quito tabooed. Nature and
Gods good air are the only cures
AS my doctor, a charming old Swiss,
used to say, "Bnt, Monsieur, ! cannot
do anything myself. | only assist the
nature. see that the nature has the
opportunities" On arrival then at the
sanitarium, the doctor at once careful
ly examines the patient, gets the min
ute history Of his case, weighs him
and takes an exact diagram Of his
lungs, marking the affected areas, for
| future comparisons. Then his temper
ature IL taken and II he be found to
be any way feverish he Is at once put
| 10 bed, with the windows wide open
of course, big hot water bottle Is
placed at his feet and enough covering
to keep him thoroughly warm Is put
on the bed. The next two days he
spends lying perfectly still In bed and
IL his temperature taken at three and
six O'Clock In the afternoon In found
to be normal, on the third day he gets
up and after breakfast goes out on
the balcony In the sun. He has his big
thick fur rug. generally stitched into
a sort OF bag which no gets into and
with infinite other wraps and cush-
lon for his head and another to place
under his shoulders, lies down on his
"chaise Tongue" a long wicker chair
with mattress. Here he win lie.