Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1908-08-15
Sunlight as a Panacea
Dr. KnOpf Points Out Remarkable
lsntances Of It's Remedial Value

.
Or. Knopf brought forward his views
on the subject In an address last
week before the National Association
for the Study and Prevention OF Tu-
berculosis at the Auditorium Hotel,
! Chicago.
The first statement Of the sunlight
theory to which DR.. Knopf takes ex-
ception was made in November, 1907,
in American Medicine. That periodi-
cal characterized the advice given in
the Hygienic and Dietetic Gazette for
October, 1907, by DR.. J. w. VAIN
wright. that those suffering from tu-
berculosis should not seek the sun
shine instead Of the shade as dread
full" And according to an article
signed by Major Charles r. Wood
run. M. D., of the United States
Army, published in the New York
World Of January ~, 1908, sunlight
breeds tuberculosis and other dis
eases and consumptives must keep
In the shade in order to be cured.
To refute such statements DR..
Knopf addressed some fifty of the
leading authorities on the subject of
tuberculosis in this country and
abroad in order to get the consensus
Of opinion of men competent to speak
on the following questions:
Whether sunlight is harmful in
cool or cold weather to the average
tuberculous patient provided he is
careful in protecting his head.
Whether the Improvement noted
among patients in winter in our tenn
perate 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 super
vision.
Whether Dr. Woodruff's theory
that blondes would do better in cold
weather and cold climatic conditions
and brunettes in warm has any foun-
dalton.
From forty-odd answers received
from men who have right to speak,
said DR.. Knopf, 1.-THE vast majority
said that a person of the blonde type
does not do any better in colder elf
mates than those having brown or
black hair; that brunettes do not do
any better in warm weather or warm
er climates, and that sunlight is not
harmful in cecil or cold weather, pro-
vided that the patient is careful to
protect his head. They stated, fur
thermore, that the improvement noted
among tuberculous patients in win
ter is to be ascribed to the cold and
to whatever sunlight Is there"
Besides giving in detail the an
swers received from the medical men
whom he consulted on the subject,
DR.. KOpf also made the following re-
marks In hts Chicago address, which
may serve as warning to those who
are in favor of the doctrine of dark
ness:
Those of us who work among the
poor in the tenement houses know
only too we'll how much more fire.
quently tuberculosis develops in the
houses of the poor, where the ma
jority live, sleep and work in dark
rooms, where the sunshine never en-
tiers or enters rarely. Let me quote
in regard to this from letter re-
ceiVed as recently as May from Mr..
Robert w. De Forest, president of
the New York Charitable Organiza-
ton Society and former Tenement
House Commissioner:
More than 800, 900 persons sleep
every night in dark, unventilated,
interior rooms in tenement houses in
this city. These rooms have no win
dows even to adjoining rooms. This
state of affairs is largely responsible |
for the fact that 10000 persons die
of tuberculosis in New York each
year."
DR.. Knopf went on to say:
"Scrofulous diseases, local, bone,
skin and joint tuberculosis we find
most frequently among children of
the sunless tenement houses in large
cities, rarely among children reared
in the country, where they are ex-
posed to a great deal of sunshine.
Thus it would seem that the men
dealing with tenement house prob
lens and tuberculosis among the
masses are in favor of light and par
ticularly of sunlight as a powerful
preventive factor in tuberculosis.
There is no tendency among them to
wish to revise the old Persian say
ing: Where sun does not enter ply
sieian enters often
'The wonderful results obtained
In the climatic researches in the high
attitudes of Switzerland are ascribed
by close observers to the great
amount of sunshine in those regions,
and we may justly claim the same for
our own beautiful climate in New
Mexico, Arizona, Southern California
and other Southern regions, also for
the higher regions in the Eastern
sections of the country.
so much for the ordinary inau
ence of sunlight on the average indi-
vidual and the average tuberculosis
patient in our temperate zones under
average conditions. That there is an
other side to the question and that |
Major Woodruff is right in some re-
spects no unbiased observer will
deny.
There is no doubt that in tropi-
cal countries newly arrived person |
who has been born and raised in |
Northern climates. be he blonde or
brunette, unless he leads an exceed
ingly sober and careful life, and pro-
tects himself against the strong aeti-
mic rays of the sun and the intense
heat of midday, is bound to suffer
and become more easily victim of
endemic and epidemic diseases. not |
excluding tuberculosis. And even in
our temperate zones in hot weather.
when every one feels better in the
shade, It is. of course. absurd to ex-
pect a patient tunless he feels
ehilled) to remain in the sun and be
comfortable