Niels R. Finsen : his life and work / by Charles R. Dickson.

  • Dickson, Charles R.
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Niels R. Finsen : his life and work / by Charles R. Dickson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Barlow and Waters had published articles noting the action of light upon small-pox, but little attention had ever been paid to them. With Finsen it was different; he solved the mystery. His interpretation was that theoretically these observations agreed with the fact that the face and hands, the parts most exposed to light, were the seats of the deepest scars, and those most prone to merge into one another. In his own words; “I saw clearly that the chemical rays would play an important part in this, and that is why I proposed in July, 1893, to treat patients suffering from small-pox in rooms from which the chemical rays had been excluded by filtering the light through thick red curtains. At the same time I showed the theoretical principle of the treatment, which had hitherto been wanting, and soon afterwards the method was tried.” His proposed treatment was based upon theory only, but an opportunity to put this theory to a practical test soon presented. There was much small-pox in Bergen, Norway, at the time, and Dr- Lindholm, chief physician of the military service, and his assistant. Dr. Svendsen, made the first trial, but two months after the publication of Finsen’s proposition, namely, in August, 1893. Eight patients were subjected to the red light treatment, that is light from which the chemical rays had been filtered by red materials, four being unvaccinated children, and bad cases. The result was that the most painful and most dangerous stage of the disease, the stage of suppuration, did not appear, the tem- perature of the patients did not rise, there was no swelling, and the hor- rible pitting did not occur. A very marked contrast to the results of former methods, and a justification of Finsen’s theory. These happy results were repeated by other physicians in various parts of the world, and in those cases where failure was reported, it was usually found to be the old story of the “just as good” plan. Either some essential detail was omitted, or treatment was commenced too late to be of avail. Finsen also pointed out that where any preceding method to avoid scarring in small-pox had achieved a measure of success, it had been through the very principle for which he contended, namely, the exclusion of light from access to the skin, but used without actual knowledge of the rationale. Thus, the face had been painted with tincture of iodine which turned the skin red, or with lunar caustic which turned it black, both efficient filters of the irritating rays. Or the face had been covered with a mask coated or soaked with various fatty substances, or many other things, the success of which depended upon the extent to which light had been excluded from the skin.
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