Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-07-05
SUNLIGHT As A PANACEA
PHYSICIAN POINTS OUT ITS
REMEDIAL VALUE.
influence Of Solar Rays on Persons
Suffering From Tuberculosis.
Effect on Blends.

Suffering From tuberculosis.
Effect on Blends.
From the New York Times.
Dr. 8. Adolphus Knopf Of this city has
put himself on record as q strenuous on
ponent of the theory, advanced recently
by some medical authorities, that sun
shine Is Injurious to consumptives in gen.
eral and to persons of the blond type in
particular. DR.. Knopf brought forward
his views on the subject in an address
last week before the National Association
for the Study OF Prevention Of Tubercu-
losis at the Auditorium Hotel. Chicago.
The first statement Of the sunlight
theory to which DR.. Knopf takes excep-
ton was made In November, 1907, in
American Medicine. That periodical char
acterized the advice given in the Hygienic
and Dietetic Gazette for October, 1907, by
DR.. j. w. Wainwright. that those suffer-
ing from tuberculosis should seek the
sunshine instead of the shade. as dread
full" Ard according to an article signed
by Maj Charles L. Woodruff. NJ. D.. Of
the United States Army published in the
New York World Of January H. 1908. SUM-
light breeds tuberculosis and other dis
eases and consumptives must keep in
the shade in order to be cured.
To refute such statements DIR. knOpf
addressed some fifty of the leading au-
thorities on the subject of tuberculosis in
this country and abroad in order to get
the consensus Of opinion of men compe-
tent to speak on the following questions:
Questions to Be Answered.
Whether sunlight is harmful in cool or
cold weather to the average tubercuous
patient provided he is careful in protect
ing his head.
Whether the improvement noted among
patients in winter in our temperate zones
is due to the absence of sunlight or other
reasons.
Whether solar therapy. or sun baths.
are of any value in carefully selected
cases under proper supervision.
blends would do better in cold weather
and cold climatic conditions and bru-
nettes in warm has any foundation.
From fOrty-odd answers received from
men who have a right to speak," said DIR.
Knopf. the vast majority said that a
person of the blond type does not do any
better in colder climates than those hav-
ing brown or black hair: that brunettes
no not do any better in warm weather or
warmer climates, and that sunlight is not
harmful in cool or cold weather, pro-
vided that the patient is careful to pro-
tect his head. They stated. furthermore,
that the improvement noted among tu-
berculOus patients in winter is to be as
cribed to the cold and to whatever sun
light is there"
Besides giving in detail the answers re-
ceived by the medical men whom he con-
suited on the subject. DR.. Knopf also
made the following remarks in his Chi
ing to those who are in favor Of the doc
trine of darkness:
"Those of us who work among the poor
in the tenement houses know only too
we'll how much more frequently tubercu-
losis develops in the houses of the poor,
where the majority live, sleep and work
In dark rooms, where the sunshine never
enters or enters rarely. Let me quote in
regard to this from a letter received as
recently as May from Mr.. Robert w.
De Forest, president of the New York
Charitable Organization Society and for
mer tenement house commissioner:
More than three hundred thousand
persons sleep every night in dark, un-
ventilated. interior rooms in tenement
houses in this city. These rooms have no
windows even to adjoining rooms. This
state Of affairs Is largely responsible for
the fact that ten thousand persons die of
tuberculosis In New York each year
The Sunless Tenement.
DIR. Knopf went on to say:
''Scrofulous diseases. local bone skin
and joint tuberculosis we find most fire.
quently among children of the sunless
tenement houses in large cities, rarely
among children reared in the country
where they are exposed to a great deal
of sunshine. Thus 1t would seem that the
men dealing with tenement house prob
lens and tuberculosis among the masses
are In favor of. light, and pa: -icularly of
sunlight. as powerful preventive factor
in tuberculosis There Is no tendency
among them to wish to revise the old
Persian saying. Where sun does not en-
ter physician enters often.
THE wonderful results obtained t.. the
climatic researches in the high attitudes
of Switzerland are ascribed by close OBJ
servers to the great amount of sunshine
the same for our own beautiful climate In
New Mexico. Arizona, Southern Califor-
MIA and other southern regions, also for
the higher regions in the eastern sec
lions Of the country.
so much for the ordinary influence Of
sunlight on the average individual and
the average tuberculosis patient in
our temperate zones under average con-
ditions. That there is another side to the
question and that Maj. Woodruff is right
in some respects no unbiased observer
will deny.
There is no doubt that in tropical
countries newly arrived person who has
been born and raised in northern CHI
IIdtcS, De De DlONu VI Unless
he leads an\exceedingly sober and care
full life. and protects himself against the
strong actinic rays of the sun and the
intense heat Of midday. is bound to suffer
and become more easily a victim Of en-
demic and epidemic diseases Lot exclud-
ing tuberculosis. And even in our tenn
perate zones in hot weather. when every
one feels better in the shade. it is. of
course absurd to expect a patient Gum
less he feels chilled to remain in the
sun and be comfortable.
Every well-eQuipped sanatOrium will
not only have rest-cure galleries exposed
to the south, but also such exposure to
the north. where patients can seek the
shade and the cool when the sunny side
is uncomfortably hot"
INSANITY A BLOOD DISEASE.