124 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. [VoL. VIII. 
thereby a standard of dosage, as it were, for particular cases, according to 
the source of energy. 
What did the world of science think of Finsen while he was still 
alive? Let us hear the testimony of the most widely accepted continental 
authority on light-therapy, Dr. Leopold Freund of Vienna. After chron- 
cling a long list of honored names of those who had also labored in this 
most alluring field, and setting forth all that they had accomplished, he 
says; ‘‘None, however, has done such work for the furtherance of light- 
therapy as Finsen (from 1893 onwards). He first made careful experi- 
ments of his own, and tested thoroughly those of others, and then, having 
laid a sound theoretic basis, he constructed the apparatus by which he 
was able to prove the usefulness of light when applied in its most intense 
form to malignant growths such as lupus.”* Like praise is accorded by 
one who has done by far the most valuable work on this continent in 
light-energy, Dr. Margaret A. Cleaves of New York. In her recent splen- 
did volume, ‘‘Light Energy,” alluding to the fact that precisely similar 
apparatus had long been used for experimental purposes, Professor Freund 
having cited that in the Vienna Institute for Practical Pathology, Dr. 
Cleaves goes on to say: ‘‘All of which is illustrative of the fact that the 
means to the attainment of a definite end in all matters of scientific de- 
velopment lie at our door awaiting the interpretation of and application 
by the intuitive intelligence. Such is the order of the genius possessed 
by Finsen, and having proved by his experimental work the action of 
light he was at once able to supply the needed apparatus for the utiliza- 
tion of the intense chemical frequencies of light energies from an electric 
are.” ‘It is not necessary to corroborate Finsen’s work in lupus vulgaris 
by that of any other. It stands unparalleled and needs neither proof 
nor disproof.”’ 
It was Finsen’s rare privilege to be appreciated by his confreres and 
the public ere he passed away. And that was another great reward. 
Paintings of merit acquire more value as they grow older and after the 
artist’s death; and a man’s life work usually requires the perspective of 
time before its true worth is acknowledged; but it seems as though Finsen 
in upsetting many theories with regard to light, likewise upset this utterly 
wretched theory with regard to life—which is so akin to light—and was 
the recipient of sincere and unstinted praise and honour from most varied 
and unaccustomed quarters, during his all too brief existence. 
The Royal family of Denmark became deeply interested in his work 
very early, and in this manner Her Majesty, Queen Alexandra, then 
Princess of Wales, and her sister, the Dowager Empress of Russia, while 
* Freund ‘“ Radio-Therapy.” 
