From a letter by Dr. H.J. Garwain to the Lancet the following interesting points are taken, the subject being “Heliotherapy in Surgical Tuberculosis,” The writer being connected with the Alton Cripples Hospital:

      Heliotherapy is undoubtedly of great value in treatment, but its application must be gradually undertaken and requires considerable care. No material benefit appears to be received until pigmentation has been established, and it is interesting to not that in certain patients’ pigmentation cannot be obtained. Some cases of a pronounced cachectic type resist exposure and will not pigment. In these there is usually abundant evidence of marked tuberculous toxaemia.” Also,

      “Red-haired patients frequently present great difficulties in treatment. In these the skin reddens and blisters unless great care be taken, and freckles are abundantly deposited, but the desired bronzing is exceedingly difficult to obtain. In the majority of cases, however, pigmentation is produced with com marked improvement. In no cases of tuberculous arthritis is the improvement more striking than where sepsis complicates the condition, and sinuses, which appear to resist all other methods of treatment, sometimes dry up with remarkable rapidity leaving supple, non-keloidal, and less unsightly scars. The value of pure, dry air in assisting to obtain these results has, in my opinion, hardly been sufficiently recognized. The functional results which follow isolation of tuberculous joints are often extremely satisfactory, and cases of tuberculous peritionitis and adenitis often derive very considerable benefit.”