Blue And Sun-Lights
Their Influence Upon
Life, Disease &C.
By
Gen. A.J. Pleasonton
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The
INFLUENCE
of the
BLUE RAY OF THE SUNLIGHT
and of the
BLUE COLOUR OF THE SKY,
in developing animal and vegetable life; in arresting disease, and in restoring health in acute and chronic disorders to human and domestic animals
as illustrated by the experiments of
Gen. A. J. Pleasonton, and Others
Between the years 1861 and 1876.
---------------------------
Addresed to the Philadelphia Society fo Promoting Agriculture.
----------------------------
"Error may be tolerated, when reason is left free to combat it." - Thomas Jefferson
"If this theory be true, it upsets all other theories." - Richmond Whig
-----------------
PHILADELPHIA:
Claxton, Remsen & Haffelfinger, Publishers.
1887.
[Edit. Note: Pages 1 - 26 follows -- we have removed the page #s to make for easier web reading]
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the
Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture:
It is now more than three years since I had the honour to read before you my memoir "on the influence of the blue colour of the sky in developing animal and vegetable life, as illustrated by certain experiments I had instituted and continued between the years 1861 and 1871."
The subject was so entirely novel, and the results of the ex?periments were so surprising, that men were lost in amaze?ment when they contemplated the facts as they were narrated, and began to conjecture the bearing that these facts were destined to have upon the comfort, the health and the prosperity of mankind.
As a knowledge of the experiments and the conclusions deduced from them became diffused, various criticisms appeared in many journals, some of which were humorous, and intended to be facetious; others treated the subject with grave dignity, not knowing exactly what to make of it; while others, again, grasping it in its important relations, as by intuition, welcomed it as a long step in advance in the knowledge of the great truths in physics which mankind are so anxious to acquire. All this was perfectly natural. The little knowledge which men have has been acquired by great labour, industry, priva?tion, and perhaps through a long course of arduous study. They are, therefore, loath to abandon preconceived notions upon any subject. It would be a loss of so much mental capital. A new idea, therefore, upon any familiar subject naturally excites doubt, and is met with disapproval until, by a free and full discussion, its merits are understood, when, if it is established by facts and conclusive reasoning upon them, it is accepted as sound, though it may displace all preexisting notions in opposition to it.
Such has been the history of the publication of my memoir, and of the wonderful discovery that it describes. I proceed now to communicate to you some facts in connection with this subject, which are very curious, instructive and important.
It may be remembered that in the month of May 1871, a great hailstorm visited this city and neighborhood, and inflicted immense damage among gardens, green houses etc. Among the sufferers was Mr. Robert Buist Sr., in his extensive glass houses, nearby Darby, in some of which nearly all of the glass was broken. The damage was promptly repaired, and the houses reglazed as before, with colorless glass. After which, my memoir on the influence of the blue colour of the sky, &c, which have been read before your society in the beginning of May, of that year, was printed and published. It was then too late for Mr. Buist to introduce blue glass into his forcing houses - but fully informed of the results of my experiments confirms the conclusions thereon to which I has arrived, and which will prove a valuable addition to our appliances in horticulture.
Mr. Buist had at this time a very large and valuable collection of geraniums which had become diseased; some of them had died, others were feeble, losing their leaves and flowers and others again, though blooming, were sensibly being deprived of the brilliant tints of colour which characterized their several varieties.
It occurred to Mr. Buist that if he should paint with a light blue colour the inside surface of each pane of glass in one of his houses, leaving an margin of an inch and a quarter in width of the glass in its uncolored condition all around the painted surface on each of panes of glass, and then place his sickly geranium plants in the house under this glass so painted, the vigour of his plants might be restored.
The experiment was made, and was successful. The plants began to revive soon after they had been placed in this house. In two days thereafter they began to put forth new leaves, and at the end of ten days their vigour was not merely restored, but Mr. Buist assured me that the plants that he had thus treated were more healthy and vigorous than he had ever seen similar plants of the same varieties to have been. Their colours were not only restored but their tints were intensified.
During the summer of 1871, Mr. Dreer, one of our most successful horticulturists, called my attention to another confirmation of my theory, which had just come to his notice. It was as follows, viz.:
A professional gardener in Massachusetts (near Boston) had been trying for several years to protect his young plants, as they were germinating, from various minute insects which fed upon them, sometimes as soon as they were formed. For this purpose he adopted nearly every expedient of which he had any knowledge, and even used the primary rays of sunlight separately. Nothing succeeded, however, in these experiments but the blue ray, which proved itself to be a perfect protection against the attacks of these insects. He made a small triangular frame, similar in form to a soldier's tent, covered it with blue gauze, such as ladies use for their veils. Having prepared a piece of ground, he sowed his seed in it, and, covering a portion of the ground thus prepared with his little blue -frame and gauze, he left the other parts exposed to the attacks of the insects. His plants outside of this frame were all eaten by the insects, as soon as they germinated, while those under it escaped entirely from their depredations. This experiment was tried many times, and always with similar results.
This gardener had written an account of his experiments to Mr. Dreer, and had forwarded to him one of his small blue gauze frames, in order to its introduction here to the attention of our gardeners. This was shown to me by Mr. Dreer, with the gardener's account of his experiments with it.
The explanation of this phenomenon, I think, is this. The sunlight negatively electrified in passing through the meshes of the blue gauze of the frame, which is positively electrified, excites an electro-magnetic current sufficiently strong to destroy the feeble vitality of the eggs or of the insects themselves, which are in the soil with the seed, leaving the seed to germinate more rapidly under its influence. One remarkable circumstance in these experiments was that the combination of sunlight with Hue light, while it destroyed these noxious insects injurious to vegetation, at the same time stimulated the development of the growth of the plants it had preserved.
Having introduced blue glass into the windows of the sleeping, apartments of my servants in one of my country houses, it was observed that large numbers of flies, that had previously infested them, were dead soon after its introduction, on the inside sills of the windows. This effect seemed to be produced by a like cause to that on the insects injurious to vegetation as described by the gardener of Massachusetts in his experiments. Various experiments have been made in several parts of this country as well as in Europe, with this associated light, in developing vegetable life according to my suggestions and with results corresponding to those that I have obtained. A lady of my acquaintance, residing in this city, informed me that having some very choice and rare flowering plants in pots in her sitting room, which were drooping and manifesting signs of disease, she threw over them a blue gauze veil, such as ladies wear, and exposed them to the sunlight, when she was highly gratified to discover that in a very short time they were fully restored to health and vigour.
A gentleman in West Philadelphia having a large lemon tree, which be prized highly, placed it in his hall near to the vestibule door, the side lights of which were of glass of different colours, blue and violet predominating; the sunlight passing through these side lights fell upon a portion of the branches of this lemon tree; great vigour was imparted thereby to the vitality of these branches, which wore filled with very fine lemons while the other branches of the tree that did not receive the light from these blue and violet panes of glass, were small, feeble and apparently unhealthy, and were without fruit.
It will be remembered that during our late civil war, when commercial intercourse between the Northern and Southern States had ceased, the sale of early fruits and vegetables in the markets of the principal northern cities, was monopolized by their producers in the states of New Jersey and Delaware, and on the eastern shore of Maryland. This was a very valuable trade, and enriched many of those engaged in it. The price of land in these regions became enhanced in value and the people resident there enjoyed unusual prosperity. On the restoration of peace all this was changed; the people along the Atlantic slope of Virginia, North und South Carolina and of a part of Georgia, at once entered upon the cultivation of fruits and vegetables for the northern cities, and owing to their lower latitudes and earlier seasons, and improved modes of cultivation, they have secured their lost markets, and are now rapidly recovering from the effects of the war. All this, of course, is a corresponding loss to the farmers of New Jersey, Delaware and the eastern shore of Maryland, and as a consequence the value of farming lands in these sections has been sensibly depreciated. A large portion of this trade can be recovered by the application of my discovery to the cultivation of vegetables and fruits, and their maturity can be hastened so as to equal that of those of the Southern States herein referred to.
The early vegetables used in my family are, for the most part, started in pots under blue and plain glass, then trans-planted into proper soil, and are ready for use several weeks before I could otherwise obtain them. As an illustration, we have been using on my table since July 12th, of this year, Stowell's evergreen sugar corn, grown in this way, while I am informed that it is one of the latest in the season to mature; it will be at least two weeks later than now, August 10th, before any of it grown otherwise in the ordinary course of growth will be ready for use.*
(* The above was written in 1874)
As it is only the very early and very late vegetables and fruits that remunerate the grower, while the abundance of the regular crops reduces the prices oftentimes below cost, it is truly the interest of all persons engaged in furnishing each foods to mankind, to produce them and sell them when the prices are highest, viz., at the beginning and end of their seasons.
Cotton and tobacco, in the Middle States, can be raised and matured according to this process, so as to avoid entirely the September frosts, and to compete in yield and quality with any of the cottons grown in the Southern States, unless it may be the Best Island cotton, I have myself raised and matured cotton plants on my lawn in this city, year after year, which produced as fine and large bolls as I have ever seen in Carolina or Georgia, and this without the use of blue glass, and before I had made my discovery of its wonderful influence, on vegetation.
A machine has been invented and patented at Washington City, by which a man, with it and a mule, can set out in a day growing cotton plants which would cover an immense area of land. Now if these plants are started according to my directions, under these glasses, and then transplanted into suitable soil after the spring frosts are over, the heat and moisture of the summer in the Middle States, which probably are in excess of those of the Southern States at that season, will rapidly ensure the maturity of the plants; and crops can be thus raised which, will compete favorably with those of any other section of the country, This same principle of hastening the maturity of plants, applies with still greater force to higher latitudes where the seasons of growth are necessarily short.
It is estimated that people residing six pr eight degrees of latitude farther north than the present latitude of cultivation of various plants, may be enabled to enjoy many plants and fruits of "which they are now deprived, by the introduction of the process of development that I have herein sketched.
What boundless blessings may not be obtained in this manner for the populations of Northern Germany, Southern Russia, of Scandinavia, Northern China and even the Steppes of Tartary and some parts of Siberia which may he brought within the influence of this wonderful power, and. thus, by increasing the comforts of life, hasten the progress of their civilization. So much for vegetation and what may be done with it. We will now invite your attention to the stimulating influence exerted, by this associated blue and sunlight upon animal lifts.
An esteemed friend of mine, of high character, Commodore J, D, Goldsborough, of the United States Navy, having been assigned to the command of one of our western naval stations in the latter part of the year 1871, caused some experiments to be made with the associated blue light of the firmament, and sunlight, and subsequently addressed to me a letter, of which the following is a copy, viz:
Mound City, Illinois, May 3lst, 1872.
To General A. J. Pleasonton, Philadelphia, Penn'a.
General: Presuming that it would be agreeable to you to learn the results of some experiments that I caused to he made, after having read the pamphlet you did me the honor to place in my hand 'On the Influence of the Blue Color of the Sky, in Developing Animal and Vegetable Life,' I proceed to detail them to you : The first experiment was made here by the Surgeon of this station, who, having had every alternate pane of uncolored glass removed from each of two windows in his parlour, and having substituted for them corresponding panes of blue glass, proceeded to place a number of plants and vines of many varieties, in pots, in the room so as to receive the associated light of the sun and the blue light of the firmament upon them.
In a very short time the plants and vines began to manifest the effects of the remarkable influences to which they had been subjected. Their growth was rapid and extraordinary, indicating unusual vigour, and increasing in the length of their branches from an inch and a half to three inches, accord?ing to their species, every twenty-four hours, as by measurement.
The second experiment was made in a comparison of the development of the newly hatched chickens of two broods of the same variety. In each of these two broods were thirteen chickens, all of which were hatched on the same day.
Comfortable but separate quarters near to each other were assigned to the two broods, with their respective mothers, on the lawn; one of the coops, containing a hen and her brood, was partly covered with blue and plain glass; the other coop, also containing a hen and her brood, did not differ from the coops commonly used in this country.
The chickens of each brood were fed at the same times and with equal quantities of similar food. Those under the blue glass soon began to display the effects of the stimulating influence of the associated blue and sunlight by their daily almost visible growth, increase of strength and activity, far exceeding in all these respects, the developments of the chickens of the other brood which were exposed to the ordi?nary atmospheric influences.
I will also relate to you what I imagine to be another re?markable circumstance having relation to this subject.
On the 29th of January, l872, the wife of one of the gentle?men on the station gave birth prematurely to a very small child, which weighed at the time only three and a half pounds. It was very feeble, possessing apparently but little vitality. It so happened that the windows of the room, in which it was born and reared, were draped with blue curtains, through which and the plain glass of the windows, the sunlight entered the apartment. The lacteal system of the mother was greatly excited, and secreted an excessive quantity of milk, while at the some time the appetite of the child for food was greatly increased, to such an extent indeed, that its mother, notwith?standing the inordinate flow of her milk, at times found it difficult to satiety its hunger.
The child grew rapidly in health, strength and size; and on the 29th of May, 1872, just four months after its birth, when I saw it, before I left Mound City, it weighed twenty-two pounds.
Whether this extraordinary result was the effect of the associated blue and sunlight, passing through the curtains and glass of the windows, or not, I do not profess to determine, but I give you the facts of the case, which are in complete harmony in their developments with the results of the experiments on domestic animals that you yourself have made. With great regard,
I remain, very truly, yours,
JOHN K. GOLDSBOROUGR
It will be seen from this statement that this child had grown eighteen pounds and a half in four months, or four and five-eighth pounds per month, and considering its apparently slight hold upon life, at its birth, we may unite with the Commodore in believing it to be "a remarkable circumstance."
On the 15th February of this year, 1874, two newly born lambs, one weighing three and a half pounds, the other weigh?ing four pounds, were taken from their mothers and placed in one of the pens on my farm fitted with blue and uncolored glass; they had not received any nourishment from their dams, they were fed alike, and without any design to increase largely their weight, with skimmed cow's milk. When they were three months old, they were weighed -- one of them weighed fifty-one pounds, the other fifty-five pounds -- at two weeks old their teeth were so much developed that they began to eat hay.
The flesh of lambs is deemed to be a delicacy. From this experiment, it would appear that in three months from birth two lambs have gained forty-seven and a half and fifty-one pounds respectively, which, at the market price of forty cents per pound, would yield in one case twenty dollars and forty cents, and in the other twenty-two dollars, for the lambs weighing respectively fifty-one and fifty-five pounds.
Farmers who raise domestic animals for food have here avery simple and inexpensive process by which their gains may be very largely increased.
A gentleman of my acquaintance having a canary bird that had been a very fine singer, was surprised to discover that, without any apparent cause, the bird had ceased to sing, refused to eat, and evidently was in a declining state of health, and it was feared that he would soon die. I recommended the owner to try the effect of blue and sunlight on the bird. He consented. The cage was removed with the bird to the bathroom of the owner's house, whose windows contained variegated glass, blue and violet in excess. The cage, with its occupant, was suspended so that the sunlight passing through those lights might fall upon the cage. The bird began to recover very soon, its appetite returned, and in a little while its song, which its owner assured me, was sweeter, stronger and more spirited then lie had previously known it to be.
At the close of the late civil war in this country, I bought a pair of mules that had been used in the military service of the government. A little while after the purchase it was dis?covered that one of them was completely deaf, having had his hearing destroyed by the noise of heavy firing during the battles in which he had been employed. Thereupon I directed the teamster who had charge of him, to be particularly careful in using him, and to treat him with great gentleness and kind?ness on account of his infirmity. Two or three years after he came into my possession, this mule was seized with acute rheumatism of so violent a character that the poor animal could not walk. Before this time he, with other animals, had been removed to a new stable that I had built, in which he was kept for several months without being used for work. He gradually got better of his rheumatism, but his deafness continued until this spring, when he recovered entirely both from his deafness and rheumatism. Over each of the doors of this stable I had caused to be placed a. transom, with panes of blue mid colorless glass therein. The stall of this mule was before a door with such a transom over it. When the sun rose in the morning, he cast his light through this transom on the neck and top of the head of this mule. Before he set in the afternoon he threw his light again upon the head and neck of this mule, through the transom of another door on the northwestern side of the stable; the effect of this light upon the animal had been the cure of his rheumatism, and the removal of his deafness. He is now as healthy and hearty a mule us you will see anywhere. The removal of this deafness was produced by an electro-magnetic current, evolved by the two lights upon his auditory nerves and exciting them to healthy action.
These last two incidents just mentioned, serve to introduce the subject of the influence of the associated blue and sunlight upon animal health and particularly upon Human Health.
It is known that silk is one of the most important staple products of Italy, It is also known that much of the high prices which this staple product bears in commerce, is due to the difficulty experienced in hatching and rearing the silk worms which produce the cocoons or balls on which they wind the silk drawn from their bodies. To hatch the eggs of the silk worm, an even temperature of a certain degree of heat is indispensable, and great care in feeding and keeping them clean is required after the worms are hatched.
An eminent Italian chemist, after the publication of the results of my experiments with blue light, instituted some experiments in the rearing of the silk worms. He placed a certain number of the eggs that produce the worms under plain glass, of which, in the hatching and rearing, 50 per cent died. He then placed the same number of eggs under violet glass, of which only 10 per cent, perished. Had he used blue glass in his experiments it is probable that the loss would have been nearly nominal. As the rearing of silk worms for the European factories has become an important industry in Cali?fornia, we may expect great success will follow the efforts to raise them, when the stimulating influence of blue light shall be applied properly.
While we are considering this subject, it may be as well to allude to the vitalizing influence of the associated blue and sunlight of this discovery in the cure of human and other animal diseases, and I may mention here a most extraordinary case in which its power was manifested.
In the latter part of August, 1871, I chanced to visit a physi?cian of this city, of my acquaintance, whom I found to be in great distress, and plunged in the lowest despondency. On inquiring the cause, he told me that he feared that he was about to lose his wife, who was suffering from a complication of disorders that were most painful and distressing, and winch had baffled the skill of several of the most eminent physicians here, as also of others of equal distinction in New York. He then stated that his wife was suffering great pains in the lower part of her back, and in her head and neck, as also in her lower limbs; that she could not sleep; that she had no appetite for food and was rapidly wasting away in flesh; and that her secretions were all abnormal. I said to him, "Why don't you try blue light?" to which he replied, "I have thought of that, but you know how it is with wives; they will frequently reject the advice of a husband, while they would accept it if it is offered by any one else. This has deterred me from recommending blue light, but I think that if you should recommend it to her she will adopt it, for she has great confidence in your judg?ment" I told him that I would most certainly recommend it to her. Accordingly we went up to her sitting room in the second story of the main building, having a southern expo?sure, the house being on the southern side of the street. We found her seated at an open window, the thermometer up in the nineties; she was looking very miserable, greatly emaciated, sallow in complexion, indicating extreme ill health, and her voice very feeble. On inquiring of her relative to the state of her health, she described it very much as her husband, the doctor, had done. When I had put to her the same ques?tion I had proposed to her husband, viz: I "Why don't you try blue light?" "Oh!" she replied, "I have tried so many things, and have had so many doctors that I am out of conceit of all remedies; none of them have done me any good; I don't believe that anything can relieve me." To which I remarked, "Nonsense! You have many years of life yet remaining, and if you will try blue light you will live to enjoy them." To which she answered, "Are you in earnest? Do you really think that blue light would do me any good?" "Certainly! " I said, "I do, or I would not recommend it to you; my experience with it fully justifies my opinion," She then said she would try it, and asked me how it should be applied. I then told her and her husband in what manner the application of blue light in her case should he made and how often and when it should be repeated,, and they both promised that the trial with it should be made the next day.
Six days after this interview I received a note from the doctor, asking me to send him some copies of my memoir on blue light, &e ,which he wished to forward to some of his distant friends, and at the close of it he had written : "You will be surprised to learn that since my wife has been under the blue glass, her hair on the head has begun to grow, not merely longer, but in places on her head where there was none new hair is coming out thick." This was certainly an unexpected effort, but it displayed an evident fiction on the skin, and so far was encouraging. Two days after the receipt of this note I called to see the doctor, and while he was giving me an account of the experiment with the blue light, his wife entered the office, and coming to me she said, "Oh, general! I am so much obliged to you for having recommended to mo that blue light!" "Ah!" I said, "is it doing you any good?" "Yes," she said, "the greatest possible good. Do you know that when I put my naked foot under the blue light, all my pains in my limbs cease?" I inquired, "Is that a fact?" She assured me that it was, and then added, "My maid tells me that my hair is growing not merely longer on my head, but in places there which was bald new hair is coming out thick." She also said that the pains in her back were less, and that there was a general improvement in the condition of her health.
Three weeks afterwards, on visiting them, the doctor told me that the arrangement of blue and sunlight had been a complete success with his wife; that her pains had left her; that she now slept well; her appetite had returned, and that she had already gained much flesh. His wife, a few moments afterwards, in person, confirmed this statement of her husband, and he added; "From my observation of the effects of this associated blue and sunlight upon my wife, I regards it as the greatest stimulant and most powerful tonic that I know of in medicine. It will be invaluable in typhoid cases, cases of debility, nervous depressions, and the like." It was at this time that the first symptoms in the improved condition of the health of the Prince of Wales, who had been dangerously ill in England, were announced, when the doctor added: "Now, in this case of the Prince of Wales, could he have been submitted to this treatment with the associated blue and sunlight baths, his recovery would be in one-tenth part of the time that it will take under the usual treatment," I introduce here a-copy of the letter that I received from this physician, Dr. S. w. Beckwith, on this subject. It is as follows, viz.:
"ELECTRICAL, INSTITUTE, 1220 Walnut street,
"Philadelphia, September 21, 1871.
"To General A. J. Pleasonton,
"MY DEAR SIR: In following out the suggestions from you at our late conversation concerning the application of the
associated blue light of the sky and sunlight for the cure of debility and nervous exhaustion, I have found some very singular results.
"The application of your theory to the cultivation of plants and the development of animal life has been wonderfully successful; but it will, in certain conditions of human suffering, prove to be a far greater blessing to mankind, if judiciously used. As an illustration, I offer the following facts, viz;
"My wife had been suffering from nervous irritation and exhaustion, which resulted in severe neuralgic and rheumatic pains, depriving her of sleep and appetite for food, and producing in her great debility, accompanied by a wasting away of her body, and changing the normal character of her secretions. "I had prepared a window sash fitted with blue glass, which was inserted in one half of one of the windows in her sitting-room. The sash of the other half of the same window was fitted with uncolored glass, the window having a southern exposure, and receiving, from ten and a half & clock A. M, till four o'clock P.M, the full blaze of the sun's light. The shutters of the other window (there being two windows in the room) wore closed, excluding all light from it, and light was also excluded from the upper sash of the first mentioned window.
"This arrangement I found to furnish too strong a blue light for my wife's eyes; and, besides, it was not in accordance with your instructions. So I introduced an equal number of panes of clear glass and of blue glass into the sash, and then my wife exposed to the action of these associated lights those parts of her person which were the subjects of her neuralgia. In three minutes afterwards the pains were- greatly subdued; and in ten minutes after having received the lights upon her person, they almost entirely ceased for the time being, whether they were in the head, limbs, feet, or spine. With each application of the sun and blue light bath, relief was given immediately. There is no doubt in my mind that in cases of exhaustion from long-continued fevers and other debilitating causes, the application of this principle that you have discovered will restore the patients to health with a rapidity tenfold greater than can be affected by any other treatment within my knowledge.
"Congratulating you upon your grand discovery, as well in Science as in animal Hygiene,
"I remain, very truly yours,
"S. W. BECKWITH
"P. S. from a close examination of the effects of these associated lights of the sun and the firmament; I am of the opinion that they furnish the greatest stimulant and the most powerful tonic that I am acquainted with in medicine."
Very truly yours, "S. W. BECKWITH."
?
About this time (September, 1871), one of my sons, about 22 years of age, a remarkably vigorous and muscular young man, was afflicted with a severe attack of Sciatica, or rheumatism of the sciatic nerve; in his left hip and thigh, from which he had been unable to obtain any relief, though the usual medical as well us galvanic remedies had been applied. He had become lame from it, and he suffered much pains in his attempts to walk.
I advised him to try the associated blue and sunlight, both upon his naked spine and hip, which he did with such benefit that at the end of three weeks after taking the first of these baths of light, every symptom of the disorder disappeared, and has had no return of it since a period of three years now.
Some time since two of my friends, Major Generals S------- and D------- of the United States regular army, were on duty in this city. On making them a visit at their official residence, I saw on the window-edge as I entered the room, a piece of blue glass of about the size of one of the panes of glass in the window. After some conversation, General D. said to me, "Did you notice that piece of blue glass on our window-edge?" I said, "I had observed it," "Do you know what it is there for?" To which I replied, that "I did not!" He then said, "I will tell you - DS. and I have been suffering very much from rheumatism in our fore-arms, from the elbow-joints to our fingers' ends; sometimes our fingers were so rigid that we could not hold a pen -- we have tried almost every remedy that was ever heard of for relief, but without avail; at last I said to S., suppose we try Pleasonton's blue glass, to which he assented when I sent for the glass and placed it on the window edge. When the sun began about ten o'clock in the morning to throw its light through the glass of the window, we took off our coats, rolled up our shirtsleeves to the shoulders, and then held our naked arms under the blue and sunlight; in three days thereafter, having taken each day one of these sun-baths for 30 minutes on our arms, the pains in them ceased, and we have not had any return of them since -we are cured."
It is now more than two wars since the date of my visit to these officers. Two months ago General S. told mo that ha had not bad any return of tie rheumatism, nor did he think that General D. had had any. General S. in the meantime had been exposed to every vicissitude of climate, from the Atlantic Ocean to Washington Territory, on the Pacific, and from the 49th degree of north latitude to the Gulf of Mexico, and General D. wits then stationed in the far North.
In the beginning of March, 1873, I was called upon by Mr. Henry H, Hollowly, a very respectable gentleman, doing business in this city as a bookseller, who came to consult me on the subject of his mother's illness, and to ask my opinion in regard to the propriety of using blue and sunlight baths in her case. He stated that his mother had been confined to her bed for more than two months, and that she was suffering excruciating pains in her head, spine and other parts of her body; that she could not bear to be moved in bed; that also could not sleep, and having no appetite, she was rapidly wasting away in flesh and strength; that her physician had not been able to make any impression upon her malady, and that the family were in despair lest she should die; that its members had been summoned to her bedside that afternoon, to see her probably for the last time, and if I thought that these blue and sunlight bathe would relieve his mother, he wished to have them tried. From his account it was evident that her situation was critical and that there was a. serious disturbance of the electrical equilibrium in her system; I told him very frankly that I thought his mother could be greatly benefited by the use of the said baths of light, and I informed him how and how often these baths of light should be administered. Ho expressed himself much gratified by my explanations and said that he would urge his mother and her physician to give them a fair trial. I received from him subsequently a letter, of Which the following is a copy, viz:
"Philadelphia, April 14th, 1873,
"To General A. J. Pleasonton.
Dear Sir:--Knowing that you have been assiduously investigating the curative properties of blue light (for human diseases) for several years past, a feeling of gratitude prompts me to take the liberty of communicating a few facts that may of some interest to you.
"About six weeks since I heard you explaining to an acquaintance of yours, the way in which blue light should be arranged in windows, so as to take sun-baths thereby. In enumerating the classes of invalids that would be benefited by such baths, you mentioned those afflicted with spinous or nervous diseases.
"I was an interested auditor; for my mother, Margaret C. Holloway, residing in Chesterfield Township, Burlington County, New Jersey, had then been confined to her bed for about two months, her entire nervous system apparently being incurable affected. It was probably a regular consumption of the nerves. She appeared to be wasting away very rapidly, and we had but little, if any, hope of her recovery.
"At my request, after obtaining the full consent of herself and the attending physician, blue window lights (purchased from French, Richards & Co of this city) were suitable arranged in the west windows of her room, the east windows being too much shaded by trees to admit the light properly. During the first week thereafter, the weather was so unfavorable that only one sun-bath could be taken; but the next week, three or four were taken on consecutive days.
"From the commencement of her sickness, she had not been able to sit up more than few minutes each day, just while the nurse made the bed; but in a few days after the several sunbaths were taken in succession, she surprised the entire family by getting up and dressing herself while they were at breakfast. She probably over-exerted herself as she was not so well for two or three days thereafter. However she continued to improve very rapidly, and has now almost or entirely regained her usual health.
"I may just here state the most important perceptible effects of the sun bath.
"During most of the time of her illness, mother suffered from an intense pain in the upper part of the spine and in her head, and the galvanic battery had been frequently and regularly used in the hope of mitigating it. The sun-baths relieved this pain very materially; and also induced a profuse perspiration that relieved the interior organs from their obstructions, and which relief medicines, as well as the galvanic battery, had failed to produce.
"These are the important facts in the case.
"The attending physician would probably maintain that the remedial virtue was mainly or altogether in his medicines, but the circumstances are such as to induce the belief that mother's speedy recovery was in a great degree attributable to the curative properties of the blue glass. I am so fully convinced of this that I shall thereafter use the glass in a similar way, in all cases of protracted sickness in my own family, whenever practicable.
"Very respectfully yours, &c,
"HENRY H. HOLLOWAY,
"No, 5 South Tenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa."
?
This lady soon afterwards recovered her usual good health, and on its re-establishment, she made several visits to her sons residing here. In two of these visits, I had the pleasure to see her. In one of the interviews that I had with her , she told me that for two years prior to the use of these baths of light she had had no perceptible perspiration, but that after the third of these light baths , a most copious perspiration broke out all over her person, but particularly profuse on her neck and shoulders, and that she had called her daughter to witness it, who scraped it with her hands from her neck and shoulders as a groom does from a horse that has been hard driven or ridden in summer. She dates her recovery from the restoration of her power to perspire, which she attributed to the effect of the associated sun and blue lights.
I addressed a note to the attending physician in this case, asking from him a statement of the case, with its diagnosis, &c. From his reply I make the following extract, viz; "Mrs. H. had been sick some two or three weeks with excessive spinal irritation amounting to partial paralysis of the right side, with intense neuralgia from the occiput down to the foot, including the right arm. This condition was greatly improved before the blue glass was used. Site was almost free from pain, but nervous irritation remaining at this time I made use of the galvanic battery, which she thought done her a great deal of good.
"I think it was some two or three days after that, the blue light was used. She says that she took it about twelve times altogether, from a quarter to a half hour each time.
"You can draw your own conclusion, if there was any benefit derived from blue light.
"My dear sir, I would not have you imagine that I do not have any faith in your theory, for I confidently believe that it has a most powerful influence, both on the animal and vegetable kingdoms.
"I should like, at some future period, to give it a fair trial; consequently, if it would not be encroaching too much on your time, 1 should like very much to hear from you in regard to your experience of its application and result, the manner and mode by which it may be used, and should there be any benefit derived by its use, I would most cheerfully transmit that fact to you. "Respectfully yours, "J. G. L. WHITEHEAD. . "CROSSWICKS, April 21, 1873'
I have introduced hero the extract from the letter of Dr. Whitehead merely to show the desperate condition of his patient, her agonizing suffering and the well founded apprehensions of the patient's family%uFFFDthat the situation of the patient was extremely critical, and fully justified the use even of experiment with a new practice, in the attempt to relieve her. When they saw that the expedients resorted to during her long sickness had failed to produce the desired results, Dr. Whitehead, himself, is stated by Mr. Holloway to have given his full consent to have the experiment with the blue fight made in the case of Mrs. Holloway she also desiring it, which is conclusive that she had not been so much benefited by his treatment of her as to wish to continue it longer, and that he was also in doubt as to its efficacy from the adoption of another practice.
About this time, Mr. H.H. Holloway, the gentleman whose mother's case is given above, being a great sufferer from rheumatism, from which he had been unable to obtain relief, determined to try in his own person the efficacy of the sun and blue light bath, and after having tested it to his entire satisfaction, addressed me a letter, us follows, viz:
"Philadelphia , October 17th, 1873.
"Gen. A . J Pleasonton,
"DEAR SIR: In the spring of 1872, I was afflicted with the rheumatism {sciatica) for nearly two mouths, and I suffered from a recurrence of the same, at intervals, until last spring. At that lime the surprising effect which your blue glass sun- baths produced in restoring my mother to health (an account of which I sent you a few months since,) induced me to try the same for the rheumatism.
"I took three or four such baths of sun and blue light, in accordance with your directions, and have had no returns of the rheumatism since, although 6 months have now elapsed; and I have been exposed in stormy weather. My limbs have been a little stiff, but without pain, two or three times during long continued storms, which was probably owing to the mercury contained in the drugs taken by me, when first attacked in 1872.
"I have deferred writing to you on the subject for several months, so that sufficient time might elapse to be sure of the permanence of the effect of the "blue glass sunbaths.
"I am fully confident that a fair trial of said sunbaths will seldom if ever fail to cure the rheumatism, and I wish that so simple and inexpensive a curative agent may speedily become popularized.
"Very respectfully,
"HENRY H. HOLLOWAY,
"No, 5 South Tenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa."
?
In the further consideration of this subject, I introduce here some extracts from a letter received from Dr, Robert Rohland. a distinguished physician residing in New York.
NEW YORK, July 13th, 1873.
"Gen. A . J Pleasonton
"Sir: Dr, McL. told me, three days since, that you had written to him about a new edition of your highly interesting pamphlet on blue light that you were preparing, that would contain additional results (that you had obtained in your experiments with blue light as a healing power. I can readily believe in its efficacy, and I very much regret that I have been unable to continue my own experiments in the same direction, by which many new facts would have been developed in all likelihood to the great benefit of suffering humanity. Be that as it may, you deserve the warmest thanks for having extended your experiments so far, making the professional physicians to feel ashamed that none of them thought it worth their while to draw practical consequences from your experiments in the development of animal and vegetable life. As the effect of blue light is identical with 'od-force' it might be of interest to you to hear of some surprising phenomena produced on sensitive persons in connection with blue light and corroborating the results of 'od-force' and 'odified preparations'
"1. Compare with your results of the blue light on the Alderney bull calf the statement of Dr. Henry B. Heind, page 36 of my pamphlet on 'od-force,' case No 17,and you will find the similar surprising growth of babies, by using my 'od-magnetic' sugar of milk.'
"2. I exposed, about a year ago, a man suffering with severe rheumatism to the influence of the blue light through two glass panes. He felt, after fifteen minutes, much relieved, and could move about without pains, but complained of a nasty metallic taste on his tongue. The same happened to a friend who visited me during odo-magnetizing sugar of milk, when I placed his hand in the blue and violet rays of the prism.
"Dr, Hardis, assistant physician of Dr. E. B Foote, has the same metallic (copper) taste, whenever he takes some of my odo-magnetic sugar of milk, on his tongue; also Dr. Fincke, a highly educated and reliable physician in Brooklyn who experimented a great deal with od-force produced by the blue and violet rays of the prism, and who placed the hand of a man within these rays, and the latter complained of having a taste like verdigris on his tongue.
"These examples show that the blue and violet light and the od-force generated in this way are of an electric positive nature; and it is very much to be regretted that Professor Von Reichenbach reversed the poles, and, in his works, calls this pole, which is analogical in its effects to the positive pole of any electric- or electro-magnetic apparatus, the 'odic-negative one,' causing by that that uselessly an unavoidable confusion,"
?
In the latter part of March, 1874, I received a letter from Major-General Charles W. Sanford, late the commander of the National Guard of the city of New York, of which the following is a copy:
"462 West Twenty-Second street, "NEW YORK, March 29th, l874
"To Major-General Pleasonton,
" 918 Spruce street, Phila., Pa.
"General: Will you oblige me with a copy of your pamphlet upon the use of blue glass? I had some time since an opportunity to read it, and having an invalid daughter, her physician was induced to try the experiment of having blue glass inserted in her windows. She has been materially benefited by its use, and I am anxious to investigate the subject.
"She has also a number of plants in her sitting-room, which have grown and flourished in an extraordinary manner under its influence. I am, General, very respectfully,
"Your obedient servant,
"CHARLES W. SANFORD,"
Extract from a letter of Dr. Robert Rohland, of New York, received by me in June, 1874. "New York, June 28, 1874, "To Major-General Pleasonton,
"Philadelphia"
SIR: ...... Several gentlemen have made some experiments with blue light under my direction, with very favorable results, especially Dr. L. Fisher, in case of general debility and exhaustion, and Dr, McLaury, in a case of very trouble some tumor. "Very respectfully yours, truly, "DK. ROBERT ROHLAND."
Extract from a. letter of Dr. Wm, M. McLaury, of New York, received by me in August, 1874.
"To Major-General Pleasonton, Phila.
"DEAR Sir: Understanding through Dr, R. Rohland that you are about to publish a new edition of your article on the blue ray, with some additional matter, I suppose that yon would like to hear of my experience herewith.
"I regret to state that my experience is as yet very limited, but I have great hopes that by extensive experiments, with careful observation, we will yet find it to be an important agent in combating disease.
. ., . . "In a little girl one month old, was found a hard resisting tumor about the size of a robin's egg, in the sub-maxillary region of the left side. I had it placed in such a position that the rays of light through a blue glass should impinge upon it one hour, at least, each day. This tumefaction disappeared entirely within forty days.
"The child has developed astonishingly; is now seven months old; is exceedingly bright and happy; has not known an hour's sickness or discomfort. Its peculiar freedom from infantile ills, I attribute, at least in some degree, to the influence of the blue light.
"With great respect, yours,
WM, M, McLAURY.
"NEW YORK CITY, August 20th, 1874,"
Some time since, Mrs, C., the wife of Major-General C-, a distinguished officer of the United States regular army, told me that one of her grandchildren, a little boy about eighteen months old, had from his birth had so little use of his legs that he could neither crawl nor walk, and was apparently so enfeebled in those limbs that she began to fear that the child, was permanently paralyzed in them.
To obviate such an affliction, she requested the mother of the child to send him, with his two young sisters, to play in the entry of the second story of her house, where she had fitted up a window with blue and plain glass in equal proportions. The children were accordingly brought there and were allowed to play for several hours in this large entry or hall under the mixed sun and blue tight. In a. vary few days, Mrs. C told me that the child manifested great improvement in the strength of its limbs, having learned to climb by a chair, to crawl and to walk, and that he was then as promising a child as any one is likely to see.
In the case of the child, whose premature birth occurred at the naval station at Mound City in Illinois, Commodore Goldsborough was informed by its mother, a short time since, that it had continued to improve in health, size and vigor, since the Commodore had last seen it, and that it was then a perfect specimen of infantile development.
The case of this child, described by Commodore Goldsborough, is a very remarkable one, for, having been prematurely born, it may be presumed that its organization was not as completely developed as it would have been had it fulfilled the entire period of its gestation and consequently it would seem that the association of the blue and sun light had repaired all the deficiencies in its organisms existing at its birth.
We have, in these instances that I have advanced, manifestations of the remarkable variety of powers as developed in the several cases, all differing from each other in their various disorders, and all having been restored to their normal condition of health and vigor; and, in some instances, having had that condition increased and intensified.
We have had moribund flowering plants, not only arrested in their course of decay, but reinvigorated, and their beautiful tints of color greatly improved.
We have had branches of a tropical fruit tree that were exposed to the action of blue light, made highly fruitful, while others of the same tree, not similarly exposed, bore no fruit, and were feeble and apparently unhealthy.
We have an immature infant child, defective in its developments at its birth, made perfect in its parts, and strengthened so as to become a. striking instance of infantile health, vigour and beauty.
We have had in another infant child, only one month old, an obstinate tumor to be absorbed, and a degree of bodily vigor imparted to it that defied the attacks of all infantile disorders after the tumour had disappeared.
We have had poultry of the same variety, hatched on the same day, presenting such different stages of advanced development, after the lapse of the some period of time, to those of similar poultry reared in the common way, that incredulity must yield to well established fact, and surprise give way to conviction.
We have had the vocal powers of a singing bird, that had ceased to sing, again excited, and its musical tones again poured forth with greater force, richness and beauty than it had before ever displayed to the delight of all who have heard it.
The deaf had been made to hear: in a domestic animal, the mule, which for nearly ten years, and perhaps longer, had heard not at all; and the stiffness of his limbs with rheumatism has given way to the natural elasticity of his normal condition of health. Under this most potent influence, lambs that may be used for the food and clothing of man, have been no greatly developed in so short a time that we may reasona?bly hope that the rearing of domestic animals for food may be so largely extended and improved, that immense numbers of mankind, who, from the costliness of such food heretofore, had never tasted it, may, in the near future, be no longer de?prived of the use of this most stimulating mid nourishing article of flesh diet
But the greatest value of this application of blue light will be found to be in its curative power in human and animal dis?orders of health.
In the cases before quoted in the human family, rheumatism, both chronic and acute, neuralgia, with its accompaniment of partial paralysis and various other complications, torpor of the lower extremities of a child, nearly amounting to paralysis, have all yielded to the application of these vital forces of light. May we not congratulate mankind on the blessings which this discovery foreshadows?
For cerebral disorders, from softening of the brain to con?firmed insanity, I would respectfully suggest to the medical pro?fession full trials of the blue find sunlight baths, to be taken by their patients at least once in every twenty-four hours on the naked spine and back of the head. Should they succeed in removing the disorders of the brain, we may, in the near future, be relieved of the cost of building additional lunatic asylums, and insanity may be classed as a curable disease.
While this edition was being put through the press, I received the following communication and its enclosure from Dr. Robert Rohland, a distinguished scientist, resident in New York;
209 Third Avenue, New York.
October 26th, 1874.
General A.J. Pleasonton:
Dear Sir: With my warmest thanks for your last kind letter, I have, today, the pleasure to send you enclosed, at last the report of Dr. Fisher's patient ;and am still in hopes to send you more next month.
Accept the assurance of my highest respect, and allow me to sign myself, your most obedient and grateful, DR. ROBERT ROHLAND.
Enclosed in the above, was the following statement of the lady who had been placed under the- influence of the associated light of the sun and the blue light of the firmament, and the blue rays eliminated from sun-light transmitted through blue glass:
"At the request of my attending physician, Dr. Louis Fisher, I will state, as briefly as possible, the effects produced upon me by the transmission of the sun's rays through blue glass:
" Having been an invalid for nearly three years, and for the last half of that time confined entirely to my rooms on one floor, I became so reduced by the long confinement, and my nervous system seemed so completely broken down, that all tonics lost their effects, sleep at nights could only be obtained by the use of opiates, appetite, of course, there was none, and scarcely a vestige of colour remained either in my lips, face or hands as a last resort , I was placed, about the 19th of January, 1874, under the influence of blue glass rays.. Two large panes of the glass, each 36 inch long by 16 inches wide, were placed in the upper part of a sunny window in my parlor, a window with a south exposure, and as the blue and sunlight streamed in to the room, I sat in it continuously. I was also advised by Dr. Fisher, to take a. regular sun-bath of it; at least to let the blue rays fall directly on the spine for .about 20 or 30 minutes at a time, morning and afternoon; but the effects of it were too strong for me to bear; and as I was progressing very favorably by merely sitting in it in my ordinary dress, that was considered sufficient.
"In two or three weeks the change began to be very perceptible. The colour began returning to my face, lips and hands, my nights became better, my appetite more natural, and my strength and vitality to return, while my whole nervous system, was most decidedly strengthened and soothed.
"In about six weeks, I was allowed to try going up and down a few stairs at a time, being able to test in that way how the strength was returning into my limbs, and by the middle of April, when the spring was sufficiently advanced to make it prudent for me to try walking out, I was able to do so.
"The experiment was made a peculiarly fair one by the stoppage of all tonics, &c, as soon as the glass was placed in the window, allowing me to depend solely on the efficacy of the blue light"
A distinguished surgeon of this city, on being made acquainted with the remarkable vivifying effects of this force, in several of the cases mentioned herein, expressed to the author, the opinion that the vitalizing influence of these associated colors, would probably be found to eradicate scrofula and the terrible diseases which have produced it, from the human system -a result never yet attained by any medical treatment now known. If this opinion should prove to be well founded, why may we not anticipate that tubercular consumption of the lungs may be arrested in its progress, its abscesses absorbed and dispersed by the purified blood taking up the purulent matter, and either decomposing it, or eliminating it through the various excreting channels of the body ?*
If this last mentioned case had furnished the only example of the restorative influence of blue light upon disordered health, it should awaken in the medical profession, throughout the world, a desire to investigate the causes and sources of that force which had produced such marvelous effects.
Let us attempt a solution. The juxtaposition of plain uncoloured glass and blue glass in the passage of sunlight, and the transmitted blue light of the firmament, and the eliminated blue rays of the sun light through them respectively, evolves an electro-magnetic current, which imparts to vegetable or animal life subjected to it, an extraordinary impulse to the development of their respective vigor and growth. Their vitality is strengthened so as to resist disease, and to throw it off in those instances in which it had appeared before having been subjected to its power."
* A friend of mine has sent me the following notice, viz:
"Life Under Glass" The author of"Life Under Glass" sends to the Boston Transcript, a letter giving some curious results of his experiments in the use of colored glass, as a medium for the transmission of the sun's rays in the treatment of lung disease. The writer of the communication, being himself a victim of weak lungs, gave special attention to the subject from personal as well as professional interest. His attention was directed to the matter by an accident in his own experience. During the autumn of 1863, he was home on "sick leave" from the army, and was in the habit of frequenting the photograph gallery of a friend. The operating room of the gallery was lighted by a skylight of light blue glass, and the walls were tinted of the same color. He soon noticed that he invariable felt better after an hour or two passed in the gallery, and he was firmly convinced that the beneficial effect was largely due to blue light. After the war, he began a series of experiments among his patients by using blue glass. As the light from pure blue glass is not entirely agreeable to the eye, he altered the panes with clear glass. This was an improvement, and he went on with his experiment until he attained the highest sanitary power in a purple or light violet color, the red, in the staining, making the light pleasant to bear.
