Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-07-09
HOPE FOR THE Blind,
Patients Tell of Relief Gained
From New x Ray Method.
INTERMITTENT RAYS ARE USED
Discovery Made by DR.. Finley r. Cook
While Treating a Cancer-Cataract
Films Even Pierced by the Powerful
Liqht-Thirty Persons Benefited.


Light-Thirty Persons Benefited.
That blindness can be overcome and
the eyes regenerated by q new method
of utilizing Y rays is the discovery
claimed to have been made by prom
inent New York physician and sur
geon, DIR. Finley r. Cook.
Though he has made no formal an
nouncement concerning his discovery
to the medical fraternity, DR.. Cook has
had the advice and assistance of sew
eral general practitioners and eye spe-
cialists in using 1t upon some thirty
persons suffering from loss of sight in
varying degrees. And when the Acad-
emy of Medicine resumes its meetings
in the fall he will make q full report
to that body on the success he has at
tained in these cases.
Despite Dr. Cooks desire to keep his
work a secret until the time arrives for
making it known through medical chan
nels, several of those who declare he
has benefited them are enthusiastic in
their wish to tell of what it has done
for them.
Remarkable statements regarding the
manner in which the y rays had re
stored their sight were made recently
to a New York American reporter by
several of these patients.
I. J. Byrne of New York city said:
II was going blind when l began to
take the Roentgen ray treatment and
could not recognize friend who passed
me on the street Now l can distin-
guish faces for a distance of half a
block and can read the finest print"
Mrs Rose BOpf of New York city
said:
"The sight of my left eye was dim
med, and the right was totally blind
Though | had worn glasses for more
than fifteen years, my sight was rapid
ly failing when | started the Y ray
treatment At the present time l can
see with the eye that formerly was
useless, and the left one has improved
so much that l have stopped wearing
glasses"
Even more striking than these two
! cases is that of Frank Comstock OF
Meriden, Conn. which is vouched fol
by Mr.. Byrne. Comstock was totally
/ without vision when he was first treat
ed with the rays, the retlna of one eye
being detached. while the other haC
been badly affected by degeneration Of
! the nerves. He was then unable t
make his way through the streets with
out assistance He is now able to reaC
and can find his way easily from place
to place without any help.
DR.. Cooks discovery of the method
which he uses in applying the y ray:
TO the eyes was made while treatint
cancer with the powerful light Will,
| trying to hit on plan for preventin!
his patient from being burned he de
cided the only way to do this was t
make the exposures of the light upol
the subject intermittently. When h,
tried this he found the rays wer
Just as effective, while they did no
leave any harmful effects.
He concluded, therefore, that tn
fault lay in the fact that the rays wer,
used for a continuous period, whicl
resulted in irritation following quick
ly upon the stimulation which wa!
sought. After that he modified tht
treatment to flashes" these being 70
just second. but of great power
Shortly after this step had been talk
en- young woman who had been bin,
for twenty-seven years applied TO him
The result in this case was not yer.
promising, as the young woman suf
fered very severely from cataract bu
It was sufficient to show that the ray,
had Il regeneratiye effect upon the eye
Through discussion with Dr. Davit
Webster, Il well known eye specials
of New York city, and others familiar
with diseases of the optics he was en-
abled to obtain patients for furthei
experiment.
Where the weakness of the visioI
was caused 10y degeneration of the
nerves or detachment of the retina uni
formly good results have been attained
it is said. Where the patient has beer
the victim of cataract the improve
ment has been less marked. This /,
explained by the fact that the cat
aract covers the eye with a film which
must first be removed before the eye
can be regenerated.
In some cases the rays have ever
caused the piercing of this cataract
film. In the case of Il Mrs. Watson OF
New Rochelle, n. Y. this was accom-
plished. Mrs. Watson, who had beer
totally blind for a great many years
was enabled TO see the lights -four
minutes after the Y rays had beer
used upon her Later she declared SHE
was able to see slightly.
While DIR. Cook admitted that he haC
been carrying ON this work. he refused
to discuss the cases, saying that in the
/ fall he purposed making an exposition
of his findings before Il scientific body
DR.. Cook is Il leading member of tn,
Academy of Medicine and is also /
member of the New York state anC
county medical societies and the Amer
lean Medical association He is an as
sistant surgeon at the Vanderbilt clinic
and physician of the Virginia Day
nursery
Ptomaine Poisoning Cure.
Professor NaSSaruann of Rarlin ha,