THE SURGERY OF LIGHT.

Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 905, 1 June 1903, Page 4

THE SURGERY OF LIGHT.

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE FINSEN LIGHT.

McClure’s Magazine for February contains four interesting articles dealing with Dr. Niels Finsen and his wonderful discovery. From the article by Cleveland Moffett, we learn the following details about the discovery. First came the discovery that the red rays of sunshine have no effect upon Hie skin, while the blue or actinic rays, sometimes also called the “chemical ” rays—including violet and ultra-violet —are the only ones that have any noteworthy physiological effect upon animal lile. Following this—- “ Finsen offered to the world his red-light treatment, declaring confidently that smallpox patients would suffer no scarring of face or body if cared for in rooms from which all light hut red had been excluded. And the curious part of it is that at this time Finsen had never seen a case of smallpox, and based his conclusions entirely on theoretical grounds. “In August, ISlb'l, the first, test was made on eight smallpox patients (four of them children who had never Teen vaccinated, and were had cases). The. result was a triumph for Finsen, and was summed up thus by Ur. Svendsen : “‘The period of suppuration, the most, dangerous and most painful stage of smallpox, did not, .appear; there was no elevation of temperature, and no edema. The patients entered the stage of convalescence immediately after the stage of vaccination, which seemed a little prolonged. The hideous- scars were avoidnd. ’

“In ordinary cases a ciear reu light- is sufficient to prevent scarring and the patient can see to read. In very had cases, however, there is need of a deep red light.” When his idea was successfully m operation, Dr. Kinsen turned his attention to the killing of the bacilli of lupus by the blue and violet rays, the red rays being filtered out. It was found that a powerful electric light is more efficacious than sunlight —since the latter, loses much of its ultra-violet rays in passing through the atmosphere. The writer thus describes the Jirst attempt to cure the awful disease of lupus : “At first everything was very crude; a hand-lens was used to concentrate the rays from an iordinary arc lamp, the red and ultra-red being filtered out through blue water. For an hour or two hours every day this concentrated blue light was directed against the afflicted right cheek, Kinsen himself holding the lens, aided by a medical student.- “ The result came up to the fullest expectations. After the first treatment, there was no more spread of the disease, hut a steady closing in of the lupus patches, and a lessening of the angry redness as healthy tissue formed. Within six months, Niels iUorgensen was free from his disease, and Kinsen had done what doctors and surgeons would ha\o laughed at as a mad impossibility—he had cured a case of lupus with some blue water and a piece of o-lot-U I”

Mr Allied llannsworth, the donor of the first $50,000 lamp to the London Hospital, writes upon the work of the lamps in Knglaud : Since the installation, in the spring of 1000, three hundred and ninetyeight patients have been treated at the London Hospital, of whom one hundred and forty-nine have returned to their homes completely cured, and two hundred and thirty-two are at the present time under treatment. Of these, however, seventy-two are practically cured, and do not attend regularly, hub are still kept under medical observation. Fifteen nurses are wholly occupied in applying the treatment, and a large department is now being built for i if at the hospital How urgent the need continues to he will lie apparent from the fact that no less than two hundred and twenty seven patients are al the present moment waiting to he treated. In the case of many of these, the djseasc will have made terrible progress -before their turn arrives.” The cost of working one of these four-light lamps amounts to about £6OO a year.

I)l*. Hopkins adds a remarkable lestimony as t,« tlie value of the Finsen light when used in connection with the Roentgen rays. He says: “Having used tile Finsen ray with good results in a case of cancer of the skill, 1 decided in ltd'll to prove its results upon tin: deeper-seated cancer of the breast. Here, however, entered a difficulty. The Finsen ray has slight penetrative power. The use of the Roentgen or X-ray in connection with the Finsen ray, suggested itself to me. The Roentgen ray has extraordinary germicidal qualities, hut no curative properties. Light, heals ; the. X-ray is not light, but something beyond light, the nature of which is an unfathomed secret. Therefore, to destroy Ibe

germs, T used the X-ray, which broke down the cancerous tissue, and killed (lie bacteria. Then> I used (lie Finsen tube to heal the open sore which resulted. The Finscn ray alone would have done the whole woik had it been able to penetrate to the eorc of the ailment. Under the double radial attack, the area of ulceration quickly shrank, and after several months of treatment disappeared. That was two years ago; there has been no return of the growth since. Subsequently, cases of abdominal cancer were treated with the same result.” , Who is this Dr. Finsen, and what manner of man is he who, by his discovery. lias brought new life to hundreds ?

“ Meantime, Finsen himself. in spite of liis longing for light- stud trust in its virtues, is a stricken man. All that lie has done for the health of others has profited little for his own health. When I saw him. he looked weak and ill. though buoyed up by the power of his enthusiasm—a sort of light ironi within. lie is able to work only an hour

or two in a day.; lie suffers constantly. lie can cat scarcely anything, and, during Ins bad months, sits at table with a pair of scales beside his plate, and weighs every morsel.; lie has scorned to make money from his discoveries, giving them all freely to the world, and has patented no part of his apparatus. lie lives' content on a salary of twelve hundred dollars a year, paid bv the Danish Government, and is worried only because the Light institute, which gives its treatment to the poor for almost nothing, has a debt of forty thousand dollars hanging over it.”