Sunlight and health / by C.W. Saleeby.

  • Caleb Saleeby
Date:
[1923]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Sunlight and health / by C.W. Saleeby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    the blood without inducing general pyrexia, with its evil consequences. Reading his paper I feel strongly supported in my contention for the value of the combination of light and cold, and in my criticism of Moore’s question as illegitimate. Sonne concludes :— “ The current view that the therapeutic effect of the universal light hath should be essentially due to the ultra¬ violet (or the so-called chemically active) rays has not been sufficiently warranted in spite of assiduous research and numerous experiments. “ Based on a series of various facts concerning the specific absorption relations of the light rays (visible heat rays) during radiation to the human skin, the following theory is advanced : the curative effect of the universal light bath is due to the capacity of the luminous rays, during the light bath, to heat a very essential portion of the aggregate blood volume of the organism to a temperature possibly exceeding the highest fever temperature ever measured without causing the body temperature to rise in any appreciable degree. [Italics in original.] “ According to which the light-bath will be able to produce the inciting effect of fever upon, for instance, the oxidation and the formation of anti-bodies without producing the usual harmful effects of fever upon the organism. ’ Clearly these findings must be examined further.* Meanwhile we must not forget, if we should seem to be about to discard the ultra-violet rays, that Hess has proved their value in the mercury vapour quartz lamp, and that they are certainly bactericidal —an action of which Sonne himself says that “ in point of hygienics [it] is of the highest importance.” The infamous “ smogs ” which we endure in London and our other cities involve the loss of the cleansing virtues of sunlight and the survival of unthinkable * Sir William Bayliss tells me that this is now being done under the auspices of his committee.
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