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1928
37
and other pioneers to seek for a means of producing these rays
artificially. If we are to apply both ultra-violet and Cod liver
oil in the treatment of rickets, the former can only be obtained
during certain periods by artificial means, and it is not very
helpful to be told that Vitamin D can be more economically produced
by Cod liver oil alone, unless it can also be shown that
such Vitamin can be economically used by the ricketty infant.
In the annual report of the Medical Research Council for
the year 1927-28, it is stated that a report of Dr. Dora Colebrock
upon the effects of light upon the children at school is in the
press, and a warning is addressed to those who have the
responsibility to advise the adoption of light treatment. As far
as the public health and the school medical services are concerned
the warning is surely unnecessary. For years past Sir George
Newman in his annual reports as Chief Medical Officer of the
Ministry of Health, has reminded the public health service that
at this stage of our knowledge we must proceed with caution in
assessing the value of Light treatment. In his report to the
Board of Education he has been equally careful to discount any
extravagant claims for Actinotherapy, and in the latest issue he
quotes a number of cases where medical officers draw attention
to the limitation of the treatment.
The enthusiasm with which the introduction of Actinotherapy
into general practice was at first greeted has given place
to a certain amount of scepticism. This is regrettable for though
Actinotherapy possibly cannot fulfil all the claims made for it
by its more sanguine and enthusiastic exponents, amongst those
doctors who have had experience of the treatment the opinion
is expressed that there exists a definite set of conditions in which
its employment is indicated.
But there is another danger; when there are doubts as to
whether the therapeutic agency can do any good there is the
danger of a doubt whether it can do anything at all—even harm.
It is important to recognise that the treatment may do the
greatest mischief. To patients suffering from Pulmonary
tuberculosis, diseased arteries, Brights disease, quiescent
appendicitis, various forms of neurosis, the application of ultraviolet
radiation may do definite and irretrievable damage. That
sunlight, both natural and artificial, is a powerful curative agent
has been demonstrated, but we have only recently begun to discriminate
and to realise that what is highly beneficial to one
patient may be positivelv injurious to another. Not much harm
can be done if the treatment is limited to the natural effect of
the sun, although some people are particuarly sensitive to the
effect of the sun's rays. Many people have suffered and deaths
have occurred in this country when exposure to the sun has been