ULTRA-VIOLET RAY

Hokitika Guardian, 9 February 1929, Page 6

ULTRA-VIOLET RAY

BENEFITS OF ARTJFCI'AL SUNLIGHT. LONDON,Dec. 20. London doctors who have made a special study of the effects of ultraviolet ray treatment on cases of Uni '.5 trouble and of general exhaustion are satisfied that no better step could have boon taken that the adoption of that treatment in the present stage of the King’s illness. Ten years ago ultraviolet or artificial sunlight treatment was something of a curiosity. Now rt is almost a commonplace. More than eight thousand practitioners have artificial sunlight lamps, and so have about 500 hospitals ,besides a large number of hydropathic and curative establishments. Eight hundred patients a week are treated in the London Hospital alone. It has been shown that rheumatic troubles, to which one sixth of the invalidity of the British nation is due, can be cured and allevi ated by this treatment. It has worked wonders in cases of anaemia and debility. It has been shown that boys who receive treatment increase in weight nearly twice as fast as those not treated. Its effect on-cn-fls of gen eral weakness is partly mental, for it raised the spirits and.produces a eeling of well-being. The use of ray ti-at meat in the King’s illness may he expected to give an impetus to its popularity not only with doctors hut with the public. Although an installation may 'cost 'thousands of , pounds—the London Hospital outfit cost £3740 and the London Light Clinic equipment cost more than ten times that amoun -a small outfit for the home can he bought for £l2 of £ls. Certain dangers, however, attend the use of rays and they should not be administered except in accordance with strict medi cal instructions.