WIRELESS AND DISEASE

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXII, Issue 12253, 8 April 1935, Page 3

WIRELESS AND DISEASE

GERMAN DOCTOR’S ENPEIU- • MENTS'. Cooking an CRg by wireless Is an achievement that..-now seems to bo n little naive. It is lilde last year’s model.- motor ear which lacks tlnj refinements of this; year’s. Ultra-short' wireless waves are being employed-1° cook tho yolk of an egg andl leave t!he white untouched. Wo may imagine a. .transmitting -set in thoi suburbs, in the future. cooking all the breakfast eggs in the neighbourhood simultaneously as part of the ‘early morning session:” The subject of tfio new achievement is the subject of an interesting- discussion in ‘Radio Bound the "World” by A. W. Hasloit (Cambridge University P'ress). The cooking of tlie yolk of the egg whilo leaving the white intact inchoates th : at wireless (waves', have pass ed through the white without: having been absorbed* and that most of the energy of the wave has been retained! until it meets" the yolk. •>. different, kind 1 of substance. That, energy then produce? n ; hard-boiled yolk. This possibly opens «. new chapter in medicine. Ultra-short waves, may he destined! to introduce revolutionary changes such as occurred after the practical application of an internal hot- poultice. The underlying assumption that every kind of matter will either absorb or emit its own wave lengths has been known to scientists for some time, hut it is -only recently that its significance has been explored 1 .by experiments in ultra-short waves. Dr Erwin SeliHephako, a young German doctor is the scientist whose pioneering wo"k in this field 1 "is beginning to. bear fruit. For three years he experimented, upon animals but for the last seven years be has worked upon human beings. Tie found that the beat- produced by wireless waves differed from the effect obtained 1 by diathermy-—a process of heating the body by the passing of high-frequency currents through, it. Fatty layers °f the bodv absorb much of the energy of ordinary electric currents so that relatively little heat- is available for internal use. But it is obvious that. If the yolk of an egg can be heated while the white remains practically unaffected',- then the use of ultrashort waves will not he handicapped in this way. In practice this was found to ho true. Tt was possible to beat the blood corpuscles while tho surrounding serum remained at a much lower temperature. Dr Schliophako’s researches began in attemps to cure himself of ,a. furuncle or type of boil which caused him to suffer from a stiff neck. This worried him so much that his necessity became tho mother if not of invention), then of ingenuity. lie cur ed himself by using ultra-short waves to apply a “hot poultice- to the deep-seated furuncle. Hundreds of similar affections in various parts of the body have since been treated successfully. Serious diseases have ro sponded remarkably to wireless wave treatment. Dr Sc-hliephake announced 'Some time ago that at least 20 cases of lung abscess and kindred complaints had been cured without an operation. Unless a surgical operation were performed the mortality rate by the use of older methods in these, cases would bo between <55 per cent anj 75 per cent. Even after operation the rate would be 40 per cent. Many persons who had! recovered had remained chronic invalids. Other diseases 'which hta-v'o boon treated successfully with short wave include pyorrhoea, a disease of the gums which affects about 80 per cent of adults as well as rheumatism and various kinds of arthritis. Investigations suggest the possibility of duodenal ulcers being cured without an operation, [while asthma, migraine (headaches of unknown origin) <tnu nasal inflammations are other.promising fields of treatment. Probably tho most- spectacular aspect of the new treatment is its application to the -general paralysis ol« the insane. Treatment usually adopted iu such cases lias been to produce an artificially produced attack of malaria. Tho merit of ultra-short, waves in this treatment is that they can be used to control the temperature exactly, -while this is obviously not possible in an artificial fever. The disadvantages are that expensive apparatus is necessary for the treatment and it is severe on the patientIn. the application of wireless waves to other forms of disease, the patient feels only a, pleasant warmth. Medical observers are hopeful of remark able results in the near future. At least three London, hospital? are experimenting in the use of ultra-short waves.