Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1925-09-04
HEALTH GRAMS

..ssss-."s~- OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
The value of sunshine to the health
Of children Is suggested in an expert.
ment on baby chicks. Professor r. r.
Hart Of the Wisconsin Agricultural
experiment station placed two healthy
chicks of the same age and variety on
exactly the same diet. One chick vas
exposed 10 direct sunlight fer one half
hour daily while the other was kept
out of the direct sunlight entirely.
AT the end of four weeks the sunshine
bird had gained AS per cent in
weight and had grown in proportion
while the other had gained only %
per cent and looked the part of
starving. In other words, thirty
minutes exposure to sunlight each day
made one chick grow six times as fast
As the other that had no sunshine.
In another experiment the same
man put two groups Of healthy chicks
Of the same stock and age on a diet
calculated to produce ricketts, and
exactly the same for all birds. One
group of chicks was exposed 10 sun
light for 10 minutes each day. The
other group was exposed TO sunlight
during the entire day. At the end of
six weeks the group that spent the
tull day IN the sunlight had all the
appearance of normal, healthy fowls
and averaged 80 per cent more
weight than the other group which the
most casual observer could recognize
as abnormal and poorly nourished
Chicks confined to sunlight that
came through window glass Jared no
better than those excluded from sun
shine altogether while others of the
same age and stock developed nor
mally on the same ration plus ex-
posture to direct sunlight. In other
words there are some sun rays which
are very important to health and
which do not penetrate glass.
In an English tuberculosis sanitar-
ium located on Haylng Island an
experiment with helic-therapy, as the
sunlight treatment is called, was
carried out. Twenty children in the
same ward all under five years of age.
all suffering from spinal tuberculosis
and all confined to their beds were
divided into two groups of ten each.
Ten children on one side of the ward
were given regular systematic sun
light treatment. In other ways treat
ment, diet and environment factors
were precisely the same for the two
groups. Those receiving light treat
ment not only showed more physical
improvement than the others but they
were markedly hap Ter, more vivac-
ious, more alert and more mischevious.
The favorable contrast in appearance,
spirits and mentality for those who
had helio-therapy was most striking
and was remarkable not only by those
who were concerned with their care
hte doctors, nurses and teachers but
also by casual visitors.
Observations have also been made
in England of children whose physical
condition required them to be absent
from school repeatedly over extended
periods. A group of such youngsters,
too large for results to be regarded
as accidental, have, after spending
the intermittent absences in the open
country with regulated helio-therapy,
with singular consistency caught up
with and often Outclased their more
fortunate companions who had en-
joyed the advantages of uninterrupted
Several did brilliantly at
Interrupted or periodic exposure TO
sunlight seems definitely superior TO
continuous sun treatment. Continu-
Gus exposure over prolonged periods
results in exhaustion due, to some
extent at least, to the Oppressive effect
Of heat. Intermittent exposure results
in stimulation. During summer months
the best results follow exposure in
the early morning while the air is
cool. The hours near noon are better
during the colder seasons.
DR.. Roller, of Leysin, a Swiss vii |
age some 400 feet above sea level,
has constantly under his care more |
than 1000 patients suffering from |
of the bones and joints. |
His treatment consists almost entirely /
IF regulated exposure Of the patients
10 the direct rays Of the sun, which, at
hat altitude, are rich in those rays,
If wave length shorter than the visl-
Die spectrum, which are called ultra
-iolet. The results are remarkable.
Ricketts, Is another disease that re
spends satisfactorily to sunlight
reatment. Ii must be remembered
always, however, that best results fol-
ow regulated, systematic exposure
o direct sunshine. A few minutes
tally is ample to start with while over
exposure not only brings exhaustion
nut painful blistering as well to pa
tents who are not accustomed to sun
hine.
In some places, especially the large
Industrial cities, the smoke dust and
.og screens prevent altogether a salts
actory helio-therapeutie program. To
,yercome this science has provided a
pecial electric arc lamp which radi-
res the ultraviolet rays. By means
# this lamp treatments may be en-
,loyed which give results no less graft
wing and satisfactory than those that
allow exposure to direct sunlight.