﻿BOVIE— SCHUMANN RAYS 



5 



quartz prism, of the light from a carbon arc. He was unable to 

 tell exactly where the effect began, but in general it began at the 

 blue end of the green, reached a maximum in the violet end of the 

 blue, and diminished again in the violet and ultra-violet. The 

 action extended into the ultra-violet. The culture was cooled on 

 ice during the exposure. Ward suggested that light from a naked 

 arc might prove efficient in disinfecting hospital wards, railway 

 carriages, or other places where rays can proceed directly to the 

 organism. He pointed out that a study of the action of light upon 

 cells might teach us much concerning sunburn, sun baths, etc. 



Thus far the use of light as an agent for disinfection had not 

 proved practicable, and interest in the destructive effects of light 

 was becoming purely academic, but the subject received a new 

 impetus by the discovery of phototherapy. In 187 1 two papers 

 appeared in the Lancet, one by Barlow (2), the other by Waters 

 (38), on the deleterious effects of light in the treatment of smallpox. 

 In 1893 Finsen (16) published a paper in which he reviewed the 

 work of Charcot, Widmark, and Hammer. A little later he pub- 

 lished a second paper on the treatment of smallpox cases in the 

 absence of the chemical rays (17). This paper was followed shortly 

 by three others on the same theme, and later in the same year by a 

 paper concerning the destructive action of chemical rays upon 

 animal organisms (18). Finsen's work, published in 1893, was 

 entitled Negative phototherapy. 



In 1896 there was held in Copenhagen a meeting of university 

 professors and influential laymen for the purpose of studying the 

 value of light in the treatment of disease. At this meeting Finsen 

 read a paper entitled "Om Anvendelse of koncentrerede, kemiske 

 Lysstraaler i Medicinen" (Kopenhagen, 1896), which set forth what 

 he called "positive phototherapy," as opposed to his "negative 

 phototherapy" of 1893. As a result of this meeting the "Finsen 

 Medicinske Lysinstitut" was founded. The personnel of the insti- 

 tute consisted of 7 doctors, a physicist, an electrician, and 33 nurses. 

 The results of the research of the institute from 1900 to 1907 were 

 published in the Mitteilungen of the institute. 



The basis of "positive phototherapy" is given by Bie, a member 

 of the institute, in a paper published simultaneously in medical 



