STUDY OF DISEASES. USES OF THE CINEMATOGRAPH.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 48, 26 February 1908, Page 11

STUDY OF DISEASES. USES OF THE CINEMATOGRAPH.

Medicine and surgery havo brought to their aid many arts and scionces, and occasionally availed themselves of inventions not primarily introduced in their special interests. At (he present moment attention is bsinc; paid to tho adaptability of the cinematograph to the study of diseases and durgical operations. In this connection tho Middlesex Hospital may be said to have taken the lead, and negotiations with tho Charles Urban Trading Company, with the object of setting up the necessary equipment, are understood to have reached an advanced stage. Demonstrations have already been given at this hospital and elsewhero to show the value of living pictures in tho teaching of nervous diseases. In a communication to a recent number of the Lancet, rclatin" to these demonstrations, ie is pointed out that diseases o p the nervous system are especially well adapted for bioscopic illustration, sinco the abnormal! ties of movement can all bo faithfully produced. Patients suffering from various forms of paralysis and kindred complaints were photographed in living pictures, the momentary altitudes of tho patients being recorcW at tho rato of 16 par second. Naturally, to begin with, cases have, been chosen where the movements have neon of an exaggerated nature, but the fact that nystagmus can bo shown is held to bo a dear indication I of w hot can be done with movements which are less pronounced. Gi\on .1 suitable light, it is possible to take the finest movements, and tho medical gen- | tleman who has besn giving the demon- | ctrations hopes shortly to bo able to prove this by showing tho movements which occur during the electrical reacj tions of muscles. I Tho claims of ths cinematograph in j tho sphere of operative surgery have not I gone unnoticed, though hitherto there I has been practically no serious step ta1 kon with it for teaching purposes. Dr. j Doyen, of Paris, has for some years I pnit applied Ihu invention to record rr.re and difficult, operations. As far bark as IC9B. at the meeting of the British Asporiation, Dr. Doyen spoke of this apparatus as a method* of teaching and demonstrating the technique of opcrai tive surgery, and since then he has given many notable demonstrations in England and on the Continent. MICROBES "FROM THE LIFE. 1 In the teaching of hygiene ami barteiiology the micro-cinematograph piomisos to play a prominent pan. Utilised in conjunction with the cinematographpiojcctoi, ie is now possible- to reproduce on the seieen (lie hiovt-'nicnts of various bacilli, such as thos,e of typhoid finer. Germs and microbes ure magnified from two million to seventy-six million limes, according to the extent of magnification on the film, which varies from twentvfive to 850 diameters. The great problem which had to be solved in tho perfecting of the apparatus was the nc<*<>sEity of turning a my c-f 2000 candl" power on to the speck that vtjs boing magnified and phctoprapjieyi. pnd at tho same time not to destroy it/by heat.

Ordinary methods of preparing bacteria for microscopic examination fail to give tin accurato idea of tho natural appearance of the organisms. Tho investigation of living bacteria is rendered more difficult by their close resemblance to the media in which they aro cultivated. A combination of lenses, however, has been found which permits of accurate examination of living unstained bacteria. According to the Lancet correspondent, for the class teaching in medical and other i'orms of education there can be no doubt that the cinematograph will prove to be very useful, and its management, is but little moro trouble than that of the ordinary lantern. Moreover, with the most modern types of machine it will be possible to stop at any one picture, and thus to combine with {lie cinematograph all the advantages of an ordinary lantern without any danger

of firing the films. It may bo taken, however, that wo aro as yot only at the beginning, so to speak, of this method of observing pictures of moving life.