The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-05-02
X.RAYS HELPING DR.. HARPER.
DANGEROUS GROWTH DIMINISHED
so PER CENT.
After Three weeks Of Liquid Sunshine
Treatment-HOpes That II WIN shortly
Disappear-ExperIuient Made he.
fare DaetorH n p1ower TFn.n,,.I

Treatment-HOpes That II VIII shortly
Disappear-Experlnient Made BE
fore Doctors at Flower Hospital.
President William r. Harper Of the Uni
versity Of Chicago, who IA visiting this CITY.
submitted 20 an N-ray examination yester-
day at the hands Of DR.. William ]. Morton.
| The examination was made 10 find out the
effects Of what Is known as the fiuorescent
treatment, which DR.. Harper has been
undergoing for tho internal cancerous
growth with which he Ia aifiicted and which
the surgeons found IL impossible TO remove.
Dr. Harper arrived from Chicago. on
Sunday, accompanied by DR.. Frank Billings,
! his physician. and the examination took place
at DR.. Morton's Office at 10 West Twenty
eighth street. According to President Har-
per and DR.. Billings remarkable results
| were shown. By means Of the X-rays,
measurements were made Of the diseased
! area, and IL was found 90 II was announced,
that this had decreased IN size in the three
! weeks Of the treatment from eighteen
! square inches to only seven square inches,
| or had decreased more than one-half
| Measurements taken ten days ago. on the
| occasion Of Dr. Harper's last visit here
| square inches, 80 that the rapidity Of abate-
ment which surprised the physicians then
Z has continued. The examination also dis
/ closed that the diseased AREA is entirely free
from contact with the abdominal walls
While the physicians would not say as much
| Yesterday il is known that they are in hopes
| that at the next examination which will
probably be made two weeks from now,
the growth will have disappeared. Whether
| this would mean a complete cure can only
! be a matter Of conjecture until time deter
! mines.
Dr. Billings said yesterday that the ex-
animation had shown remarkable results.
What is more, said DR.. Billings, 'Presi-
dent Harper's general health has con-
tinued TO improve all the time as the dis
ease area has continued TO decrease He
has increased in weight from 40 to 1872
! pounds, which is remarkable in itself.
| We have great hopes from the treatment.
There was very little trace Of the sick
man about President Harper yesterday.
He looked stout and we'll
I am certainly feeling fine, he said
at the Hotel Manhattan. L have gained
in weight and yet have been working eight
hours a day like any other man IL is
! life was despaired Of only a few weeks
ago. shall remain here two or three
days and hope In that time to pave talk
with DR.. McBurney, who performed the
operation in Chicago
The fuorescsnt treatment which DR..
harper is taking has sometimes been de-
scrlbed as liquid sunshine IL consists
Of administering internally certain medi-
cine which becomes radioactive when the
X-rays are applied from without through
this q new SET Of radlttious according to
DR.. Morton, is set up within the tissues. The
most obvious Of these radiations is light
itself or what is closely akin TO it, Or.
Morton says. While this treatment has
been tried recently In a few other cases
Of cancer, it Is said that the results attained
in DR.. Harper's case bad not been known
before.
An attempt TO cure an external cancer
with radium was made at clinic held at
Flower Hospital yesterday by Dr.. Harvey
King Of tho stat Of that institution. The
clinic was attended by small number Of
students and doctors, among the latter
being half dozen women.
Dr.. King has been experimenting with
radium recently, using, as he described
lGaltIuhlr ENNAulll poliNllhs INV bNlEu Dl
Prof. Liebler. a chemist Of this city. Dr.
Iiebler has found a solvent for radium, so
DR.. King announced. and has succeeded in
getting coating Of radium on the out
side Of celluoid tubes, protecting this with
a substance which does not interfere with
the activity Of the rays.
The patient operated on yesterday was
an elderly man with malignant nd RAPIDLY
a. L.
been in the hospital three weeks He has
a weak heart, and II was impracticable.to
operate radically With the knife yesterday.
A small quantity Of cocaine was injected
and then two missions were made in the
growth,
Into each a tube about an inch and a
quarter in length was inserted, one tube
being Of 5000 radioactivity and the other
OF 10000. The tubes will be left in for
fo-ty-sight hours when the results will be
observed. DR.. King said that other e1-
periments had shown that the effect Of
the radium rays was to destroy the can.
cerous cells without harm 20 the healthy
cells and that in three previous cases the
result had been that the growth began
10 slough of al the end Of that time.
Dr. King showed a woman upon whom
he said he had tried radium with good
results. She had had a generous growth
behind the ear, he said. Tubes Of the
same radioactivity a. those used yester-
day had been applied seven times for half
an hour each time. Yesterday the growth
appeared to have dropped OF almost en-
tirely Dr.. King in hie lecture also told
Of patient who bad had cancer Of the
tongue which had disappeared after four
teen davs treatment
Physicians who were present yesterday
refused 10 comment on the experiments
EIoECTRICITY IN A CIDETAIE