Canadian engineer . apeutic properties of light in the treat-ment of bacterial diseases of the skin, especially lupus -vul-garis, or tuberculosis of the skin, was due chiefly to two pro-perties of the light employed, the violet and ultra violet rays ;also their power to penetrate the skin and their destructiveaction on bacteria. In Finsens apparatus, the radiation from an arc lampwas filtered through water, (pure water is a conductor of theultra violet rays) which absorbs most of the ultra red, orheat, rays, and was concentrated upon the skin by lensesof quartz (which does not, like glass, abs
Canadian engineer . apeutic properties of light in the treat-ment of bacterial diseases of the skin, especially lupus -vul-garis, or tuberculosis of the skin, was due chiefly to two pro-perties of the light employed, the violet and ultra violet rays ;also their power to penetrate the skin and their destructiveaction on bacteria. In Finsens apparatus, the radiation from an arc lampwas filtered through water, (pure water is a conductor of theultra violet rays) which absorbs most of the ultra red, orheat, rays, and was concentrated upon the skin by lensesof quartz (which does not, like glass, absorb much of theultra violet radiation, and which aids in absorbing theultra red rays). The Finsen lamp, for the use of physiciansin private practice, consists of a 20-ampere direct-current arclamp, a concentrator and a compressor. The apparatusis so mounted on an iron stand that it can be turned in anydirection. The concentrator, is a wide metal tube, contain-ing a number of quartz lenses, through which a current of. Fig. 2 cold water flows continuously. The compressor is attachedto the end of the concentrator and consists of a short brasscylinder, closed at each end with a plate of quartz and filledwith the circulating cold water. The terminal quartz plateis pressed against the diseased portion of the skin, which iscooled by the stream of cold water so thoroughly that a veryconcentrated beam of light, possessing great heating power,can be employed without danger. A still more importantfunction of the compressor is to drive the blood from theskin and thus to make the skin more permeable by the treatment is applied for at least 45 minutes at a management of the apparatus is not easy, but themethod provides a sure cure for lupus and leaves no visiblescars. In Copenhagen a great institution, the Finsen Insti-tute, has been established, which receives from the Danishgovernment an annual subsidy of 25,000 crowns (about January ii, 1912. THE CANADIAN ENGINEER 131 $6
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