210 Master Minds of Modern Science 



doctor. The knife was used, limbs were amputated, so 

 that if the patient was cured it was only after his body 

 had been scarred or mutilated for life. 



The best way to tell how Dr Rollier has changed all 

 this is to describe that amazing school on the snow-bound 

 slopes of the Alpes Vaudoises. For although the school 

 is only a part of the wonderful hospital (to-day there are 

 thirty-seven cliniques, with over one thousand patients), 

 it is the most striking part of it. It is the only school in 

 the world in which diseased bodies are made beautiful 

 while the children learn their lessons. 



On a day when the school is in session you may see a 

 class of boys starting out for their lessons. All of them 

 have been sent to Leysin because they could not be cured 

 anywhere else. Now they start out over the snow- 

 covered slopes, clad only in a loincloth and boots. Yet 

 as they glide downhill on their skis, with portable stools 

 and desks on their backs, they are not cold. Their bodies 

 are functioning perfectly, they are stored with sunlight. 



On they go until they reach a sunny slope, carpeted 

 with fresh, untrodden snow, where the Alpine peaks 

 shelter them from the wind and the sun shines upon their 

 brown bodies. There, in a sun-trap, they set up their 

 desks and stools and work at their lessons, under the 

 direction of a teacher as naked and as brown as them- 

 selves, while their bodies acquire vigour from the sun. 



Lessons over, they enjoy themselves as only healthy 

 children can. Toboggans and skis are got ready, and the 

 slopes ring with care -free laughter. There are plenty of 

 tumbles, but the children are so immune from the cold 

 that they do not even trouble to brush the snow from 

 their bodies. They are living a natural life, that of the 

 perfectly fit. Often at the school one sees amusing con- 

 trasts when visitors stand amazed at the sight of these 

 brown bodies that do not feel the cold. 



It is all the more astounding when we remember that 



