Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1908-04-10
WHAT DOCTORS ARE DOING
FOR OUR GENERAL HEALTH

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Perhaps the most beneficent result
of the result of the discovery of radl-
um has been the certain cure of lupus,
or rodent ulcer, a terrible disease
which chiefly attacks the face Sir
William Ramsey, the distinguished
British scientist, says that exposure
| for few minutes at intervals to rays
emitted from radium bromide is spe-
cific for the disease, and that the treat
ment of other forms of cancer by RAJ
dunn has yielded very satisfactory re-
suits.
DR.. Henry s. Atkins, superintendent
of the st. Louis Insane asylum, tried
the experiment of allowing the women
patients who are suffering from milder
forms of mental disease to make shop
ping trips to the department stores
during the period preceding the Christ
mas holidays. His purpose was to give
them mental recreation, and he be-
lieves that the experiment was ex-
tremely beneficial to them. They were,
of course, attended by attaches of the
institution, but wore no uniforms or
other distinguishing marks, and the
saleswomen and other shoppers noted
nothing abnormal in their demeanor.
Railway disasters, according to Dr.
Forbes Winsl0W, an eminent British
alienist, are frequently due to sudden
mental collapse on the part of engin-
GERS. 81 believe" he says, that the
number of cases of mental collapse
among American railway employees can
be shown to be wholly abnormal. In
England, out of 10000 registered rail-
way enginemen, the ratio of those adj
mitted to lunatic asylums was 1927 out
of 10000. This percentage is very
high. 1t stands seventh on the list of
seventy-four different trades. The ex-
tent of the controlling mind of man is
limited. 1t cannot go beyond a certain
pitch. The rate of mental conduction
is not much quicker than the speed of
q fast locomotive"
The surgeons of the New York Skin
and Cancer Hospital are experimenting
with the "leucodescent light" discov-
: |
bridge, the eminent cancer specialist
The original purpose of the expert
ments was to see if it would relieve
cancerous conditions, but the surgeons
+ say that it relieves pains of almost al
4 sorts, including those of acute indiges
ton. Alopecia, a common disease Of
: the scalp which results In badness
S has been treated successfully by the
a use of this light. The physicians ar
i somewhat in doubt as to the cause O
a its healing properties, not being SURF
0 whether the light or the heat produces
the remarkable chemical changes.
d Following the reports from various
/. parts of the world of cures of menta
r disease and obsession by surgical oper
n atoms, says Leslie's Weekly, come
the announcement that DR.. N. NJ
Owensby, physician-in-chief of tn
1 Bayview Insane asylum of Baltimore
has discovered cure for dement's
n praecox, which is one of the most pitt
able forms Of insanity, rendering tn
{ victim a creature little better than
beast, and frequently suggesting in it
- effects the old superstition of demonia
- cal possession. DR.. Owensby, in hi
. investigations, decided that the diseas
was due to an oversecretion in the thy
- roid gland, due to diseased blood yes
ses He therefore conceived the ide
q of cutting away the diseased porto
Y of the gland and giving an opportun
&c ty for new blood vessels to form. H
II performed this operation upon th
10 worst case in the asylum, with the Ell
feet that within twenty-four hours til
@ man was in full possession Of his fa'
ulties. The patient was kept undo
observation at the asylum for tw
r months, and not the slightest indics
lions were noted of a return of th
10 symptoms of insanity. He was di
charged from the asylum in Octobe
Of and he is now doing intelligent worl
ID Four other cases were operated upol
h three of them successfully. The fourt
in operation, while it did not restore th
lg man to sanity, greatly improved h
1T physical and mental condition.