46 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 63 



or whether children simply thrive better and so overcome more quickly their 

 disease.^ 



As to treatment other than diet and fresh air, little need be said. We use 

 plaster when we can in preference to braces. In Pott's disease we use first 

 the Bradford frame, then plaster jackets; in hip joints, the short Lorenz 

 spica. In knee-joint disease after the acute stages, we also use plaster-of- 

 Paris. Patients with large cold abscesses are transferred to the Manhattan 

 hospitals, where their abscesses are opened, wiped out, and sewn up again 

 with proper asceptic precautions. 



On January 2ist of the present year, 1914, the author revisited 

 Sea Breeze Hospital, Coney Island, New York, in order to see what 

 is being- accomplished. Six cases of hip disease were being treated 

 by partial exposure of the body to the sun. The patients were in 

 bed on the balcony with the usual extension apparatus in place. 

 General exposure, beginning with the feet and gradually involving 

 the entire body, is not adopted at Sea Breeze, as a rule, and only the 

 area of abdomen, hip and thigh adjacent to the diseased joint was 

 exposed' to the air and sun. Continued cloudy and unfavorable 

 weather had prevented much progress in the newer patients who 

 were then undergoing treatment ; others who had been cured of 

 serious tuberculous disease by the open-air method had recently been 

 discharged. The fresh-air system is, however, well carried out, but 

 not upon the naked body as in Switzerland and France. 



The temperature on the open balcony next to the wooden wall of 

 the building was 62° F. at noon in the sun. It was the first bright 

 day after weeks of storm and cloud. It is probable that the very 

 encouraging experience of the last two years will lead to the adoption 

 of Rollier's method in all its details as modified by the less favorable 

 climatic conditions of this part of the Atlantic seaboard." 



Results at Sea Breeze Hospital in the treatment of tuberculosis of 

 the bones, joints and glands have been so good that the city of New 

 York has acquired a new location with 1,000 feet of beach front on 

 what is known as Rockaway Point, ten miles beyond Coney Island. 

 The plot runs back about 600 feet to Jamaica Bay and cost the city, 

 after condemnation proceedings, $1,250,000. The plans include an 

 arrangement of grounds and buildings which will involve a total 



^Charlton Wallace, M. D. : Surgical Tuberculosis and Its Treatment (Jour- 

 nal of the Outdoor Life, March, 1913)- This author, who is Orthopedic 

 Surgeon to St. Charles' Hospital. Long Island, and the East Side Free 

 School for Crippled Children, New York, says: The author is not in a 

 position to produce scientific proof that sea air is better than country air, 

 but he does believe such to be the case, although there are some individual 

 patients who do better in the country than at the seashore. 



" Heliotherapy is used at the Crawford Allen Hospital, Rhode Island. 



