UNDER THE LIGHT CURE.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 11014, 11 July 1901, Page 2

UNDER THE LIGHT CURE.

QUEBN ALEXANDRA AND HER AFFLICTED SUBJECTS. By a Patient, in tlie "Daily Mail.*' Six months ago I began the light, cure , as hopeless and as despairing as ever Avoman could be. For four years I had never let a stranger gaze on my face. live four years I had never dared kiss my own child. I was a prisoner, confined to tlie baok rooms of _ mv own little house, and only venturing to*creep out sometimes in the dark evening, thickly veiled, a. hen the hunger for fresh air became insupportable. I dared not face mv felloAV.. For I had seen repulsion and horror in every look, till the most pitying glance became'as vitriol thrown on my raw M-esh. And now, thanks to our good Queen Alexandra, I shall soon be able to go out in bhe A**orld again, unafraid. TERRIBLE FACIAL CONSUMPTION. My trouble began seA*on years ago. A little spot came on my face, and gradually spread. At first it gave hardly any pain, and I took little notice of it. But as time went on, and it grcAv larger and larger. I asked my doctor about it. From him I learned that I had lupus.

The name conveyed no meaning to mc, but I questioned all' I could, and soon found out the truth. It is a complaint that even the cleverest doctors seem to know little about, although there are thousands in this country stricken with it. The world sees but little of them, for in time it makes them such hideous objects that- they remain in the darkness, ashamed to face the world. Their nearest and deares. turn from them in sickening horror. Lupus, wolf disease, is rightly named. For it fastens on ones face like a wolf, sloavlj- eating away skin and fle.h and bone, till every feature goes, till eyesight is blotted out. and till at last, after long years, merciful death ends all. Women and chSldren are its favourite victims, and it, seems to come without cause, save the lowering and weakening conditions of our modern life. Doctors believe it to bo a form of consumption Avhich attacks the flesh in place of the lungs. I am not going to try to describe the tortures of the years that followed. My doctor did all he could, but in vain. At first I would not believe that there was no hope. My limbs and heart Avere strong. I had the same joy in life that any other healthy young person finds. I still loA*ed the sunshine and tne busy life outside as much as any woman. But soon the growing horror of my face kept mc in. I Aveficomed the fierce pain a. Inch followed the doctor's '•scranings," thinking they must do somethin*. But they could not stay the plague. And°gi-dTiallv pain came. For the last year I AA-as at home it seemed to mc that I did not sleep once for half an hour. Twenty times a day I prayed t0 God to T bo kllld and let me* die; more than once I Avas on the verge of killing myself, only something, I know not a. hat, kept mc back. THE BLESSED PROFESSOR FINSEN.

li was Avhen I avus at my Avoi-t that I heard of a new cure which was being tried at the London Hospital. They told mc that I a Danish doctor, Professor Finsen, had j found that strong lights, concentrated on ; the bad places, drove the disease away. , The Princess of Wales had seen the good this had done in Denmui-. and had given money to start the cure at the London Ho.- j pital in Whitechapel. I went to the hospital in dread, biu before a day had passed my dread had A-anished. Most of the patients live at home, and come every day for the hgui treatment, but I was so bad that they took mc in. In an hour the big ward seemed t. mc like a new and brighter world. Io: here they had a dozen things to ease in-. which I could not get at home. And th. nurses and the sister and the probationers Avould not let mc mope or fret- Ihey heartened mc till hope began to spring up again. People say that women patients in hospitals aa-e never grateful. One woman at least has good cause for gratitude. For I got nothing but kindness from the moment I entered the hospital Avails. Yet Avhen I first went doAvn to the light treatment room my heai. sank. "Never mind how bad it is what they do to mc: it can't be worse than I've had."' I told myself. I looked round the room and tried to" be brave, but could not keep back a «hiv«r. It was not a very big room, Avith wooden walls, a skylight roof, and benches running round the sides Avith basins on them In the centre of the room were two strong lights, Avith red cloth curtains around them, and four bras* bodies like telescopes, coming down from the lights. Around each light were placed four high, iron-framed couches, Avith AA.iite mattress and pillow atop. I 1 thought myself very bad, but the faces j of some of the others* who were Availing j with mc were far Avorse. 1 dare not describe them. The nurses Avere dressed in j white oa .sralls, with white caps, and wore ' dark-coloured glasses, which I afterwards found were to protect their eyes from the strong light. They helped mc up on one of the couches, a nurse pressed a round class on mv face and held it there, and then let the white light pour through the telescope body on that one spot on my I expected pain, and gazed up on the wood and iron rafter- waiting for the pain to come. But instead, the roof seemed to grow dim and distant, the voice of some one talking at the other end of the room got fainter, and I remembered no more till I woke A-ith a start to hear my nurse telling mc that the treatment for that day was over. It seems that I had gone to sleep, the first good sleep I had had for months. And. except for some smarting Avhich comes on a feAV hours after treatment, the cure is painless. "IT WAS THE QUEEN."" Every day I lav thus for an "Sour. And one day—l" shall* never forget it—while 1 was waiting for mv turn, a lady came up to mc and began' talking. I seemed to

know her fac.. but could not lor the -BS.O- £* remember her. . There was another lady -with her, and sister Avas there, and "&**%?%£ kind and nice. She knew; mv name, and seemed to knoAv all about m c Some folks make one feel uncomfortable when they are asking questions. This j lady did not seem to ask anything, and yet j in a minute I Avas talking to her as though I had _ noAvn her all my life. YV hen she went aAvav nurse came up. "Didn t you know who that Avas?" she asked. ' N. I don't know; but she's a very nice lady, whoever she is," I said. "Well, that was Queen Alexandra, Queen of England, nurse said. "And the lady with her was Miss Knollvs, her companion." "Why, Mrs ," cried some one, just fancA- ths Queen of England coming all the Avav* from her palace to see you 1" But it 'was not the only time that the Queen came quietly doAvn to us. And there w_s ! no disgust in her face as she looked at our horrible Avounds—nothing but sympathy and ° Each day a fresh patch of my face had the light turned on it. How it worked I cannot, tell. I fancy that eA-en the doctors them ..Ives do not- properly knoAv why it is that this cures. But gradually the inflamed patches became better and better. Whire skin greAv ov.r Avhat had been ruw Avounds, the" pain -went, and now, in six months, I am almost a. ell. At the hospital one sees and hears much of the hosts of folks clamouring to be treated People from all parts of the country come day after day. begging for a. chance for life. * But though the hospital is starting a third light, and though the lights are Avorking morning and afternoon, each light can only treat four persons an hour, and the same cases must come for many months. Already all who can be treated for months ahead are promised admission, but yet hundreds have to be turned a*vay. For the lights cost monev—£4oo a year for each light, they say—and the London Hospital is planted in a poor part, Avhere those Avho have plenty rarely pass, and so do not Avitness the need.