1904-5.] NIELS R. FINSEN—HIs LIFE aND WORK. 107 
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. Hight 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. 
