New Britain herald., 1922-09-28


 esque Seaside treatment with a scien- tinc report Of his studies of bone and glandular tuberculosis since the in- stitution was opened. He said;
 Tn order to realize what a change has come over all our ideas in regard to the proper treatment of tubercnar cervical adenitis, try to imagine with what scorn, that man would be treat cd, who twenty years ago, would have the temerity to treat tubercular ab- cesses without the use of the knife
 "At that time, the wisdom of re- moving diseased glands. was no more questioned than the wisdom Of remov- ing a diseased appendix. There might be some difference of opinion as to the proper time to operate; whether 1t was good Judgment to attempt a radical operation with glands al- ready broken down; or whether to merely drain. and do the more com plete operation when the discharge had ceased. Other numerous. minor points of controversy there were, to be sure. among the surgeons of that time, but none as to the advisa bility Of some kind of operation.
 Ultraviolet Rays Benefit.
 Roller made an important contri- button to the study of helotherapy, when he observed that his patients failed to improve, If the sun treat ment was given on glass inclosed DOT ohes instead of in the open. There fore, he attributed the therapeutic benefit to the rays on the ultravio- let end Of the spectrum, inasmuch as those are the rays which fail to pene- trate ordinary window glass More recently. Hess has thrown more light on this important subject in his ex- periments on rats. He found that sunlight had profound influence on metabolism; that the blood phos- phates could be kept at a normal lev el. in spite of low phosphorous in- take. provided the subject be expos- ed for short time each day to di- rect sunlight If sunlight filtered through ordinary window glass be us- ed, the blood phosphorus falls and rickets develop. By using glass spe- cially prepared so that the various rays could be analysed. in order to determine which had the important influence on metabolism, he was able to show that the shorter or chemical rays. more particularly those having wave length of about 300 microns were the only ones with any influ- ence. The clinical observations of Roller agreeing with the scientific experiments of Hess, make it ex- tremely probable that the same part of the spectrum which prevents rick cts in rats, also cures tuberculosis in man.
 Another factor in favor of this be- lief is the popularity and success of the snow clad mountains and the sea- shore in the treatment of surgical in both places favor comparatively greater amount of the ultraviolet of chemical rays. The direct rays of the sun are no different in those localities than in others, except probably more intense.
 The essential difference however, is in the character of the reflected rays. The longer or heat rays are quickly absorbed by the water at the shore and the melting snow is the noun tains while the rays lower down in the spectrum only, are reflected.
 Naked Children Playing in Snow.
 Along the eastern shore of Long Island Sound is little bay, fringed by delightful stretch of sandy beach, and having to the south east an un- obstructed view of the great Atlantic. Here Connecticut has made a profes- sion of faith in heliotherapy. Here, even when the ground is covered with l snow and the ponds with ice, naked l children, who are winning their up hill fight for health, may be seen i romping on the beach or swimming in | the ocean. Even the school sessions are held in the open. with an over hanging cliff shutting off the cold north winds Our children not only wear no clothing, but upon admission, their clothing is taken home with the exception of shoes, ear caps and sweaters. During the past winter, the sweaters were not even taken out of their closets.
 In spite of their outdoor life, and in spite of the fact that they wear no clothing, since the institution was opened in December of 1919, there nas not been a single case of pneu- nona, a single severe case of spas nodic croup nor even a severe case of bronchitis. We have not even seen among our children an instance of middle ear disease that was not pres mt on admission, According to our exposure of the entire ,ody to the weather, during both summer and winter, not only does not ,ause colds, but actually is a most .ffective means of prevention.
 It is, I believe, now generally ac- . that those ailments are he result of faulty elimination of neat. a condition best brought about ,y covering the body with a heavy } ayer of clothing.
 Brown as Indians.
 In a very short time our little pa : tents learn to enjoy the outdoor life md become as brown as little Indians. :, 50 intense is the tan that a woman :, listing in our vicinity for the first ime. and seeing the children playing ,n the beach, asked of there were thy white children in the institution. That same woman, on going home to told how she saw naked children running on the beach ! n winter and friend of hers ! bought that a great number must lie from exposure. She then remem- ,ered that she hadn't asked how rany die from the cold and wrote us letter for the desired information. :. Heliotherapy. we have found at the seaside, increases weight, cures tu-