Littlewood, Ian. Sultry Climates: Sex and Travel since the Grand Tour. London: John Murray, 2001.

Malgat, J. La cure solaire de la tuberculose pulmonaire chronique. Paris: Librairie J.-B. Baillière et Fils, 1911.

Monell, Samuel Howard. A System of Instruction in X-ray Methods and Medical Uses of Light, Hot-Air,
Our Friend, the Sun:
Vibration and High-Frequency Currents: Prepared especially for the Post-Graduate Home Study of Sur-
geons, General Physicians, Dentists [etc.]. New York: E. R. Pelton, 1902. Images of Light Therapeutics
Monteuuis, Albert. Air, Light and Sun Baths in the Treatment of Chronic Complaints. Translated by Fred from the
Rothwell. London: John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, 1907.

Monteuuis, Albert. L’usage chez soi des bains d’air, de lumière et de soleil; leur valeur pratique dans le
traitement des maladies chroniques et dans l’hygiène journalière. Paris: A. Maloine, 1911.
Osler Library Collection,
Nogier, Théo. Les bases scientifiques de la thérapeutique par la lumière (Rayons visibles et rayons invisibles).
c.1901-1944
Lyon: L’Avenir médical, 1913.

Onimus, Ernest. L’hiver dans les Alpes-Maritimes et dans la Principauté de Monaco; climatologie et hygiène.
Paris: G. Masson, 1894.

Orgeas, J. L’hiver à Cannes. Guide descriptif, historique, scientifique, médical et pratique. Cannes: Figère et
Guiglion, 1889.

Rollier, Auguste. La cure de soleil. Paris: Baillière & fils; Lausanne; Constant Tarin, 1915.

Rollier, Auguste. L’école au soleil. Paris: Baillière et Fils; Lausanne: Constant Tarin, 1915.

The Sun Cure in Dr. A. Rollier’s Clinics, Leysin (Switzerland), Swiss Alpine Heliotherapic *sic+ Resort. [S.I.]:
Thomas Cook and Son, c.1921.

Rollier, Auguste [With the collaboration of A. Rosselet, H.J. Schmid, E. Amstad, and with forewords by Sir
John Henry Gauvain and Caleb Williams Saleeby]. Heliotherapy. London: Oxford Medical Publications;
Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton, 1923.

Rollier, Auguste. La Cure de Soleil. 2nd ed. Paris: Librairie J.-B. Baillière et Fils, 1936.
Dr. Tania Anne Woloshyn, Curator
Department of Art History & Communication Studies,
Rollier, Auguste. Quarante Ans d’Héliothérapie. Lausanne: F. Rouge & Cie, 1944. McGill University

Osler Library of the History of Medicine

McIntyre Medical Building, 3rd floor,
3655 Promenade Sir William Osler
Montreal, Quebec, Canada January to June 2011
H3G 1Y6
Email: osler.library@mcgill.ca Osler Library of the History of Medicine
This exhibition catalogue is made possible through the generous support of
Gail Beck, O.Ont., Med’78 and Andrew Fenus, MLS’74
INTRODUCTION Works Cited

He may resemble some overblown bourgeois Humpty Dumpty, but in J.M. Andress and W.A. Aimes, A. La pratique de l’héliothérapie, 2nd ed. Paris: A. Maloine et Fils, 1914.
Evans’ 1925 children’s hygiene handbook, Success and Health, “Doctor Sun” (Fig.1) is promi-
Allen, Charles Warrenne. Radiotherapy and Phototherapy, including Radium and High-Frequency Currents,
nently promoted as the wise choice of a family physician with very real sincerity. With his smil-
their Medical and Surgical Applications in Diagnosis and Treatment. For Students and Practitioners.
ing face, radiating luminous rays, and open gesture, he welcomes the viewer to his domain, New York and Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Co., 1904.
where in the background children dance and play. Here health and happiness are shown as one
and the same. Andress, J. Mace and W.A. Evans. Success and Health. Canadian Hygiene Series. Toronto: Ginn and Company,
1925.
Nor is this a unique representation of the sun as doctor. A Cannes physician, Dr J. Orgeas, for
example stated as early as 1889: Blume, Mary. Côte d’Azur: Inventing the French Riviera. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992.

Just as the sun is the principal of all life, so it is the source of all healing. It is the Carter, Simon. Rise and Shine: Sunlight, Technology and Health. Oxford and New York: Berg, 2007.
Sun, and uniquely the Sun, that sick people seek in winter on our coast. It is the
Great Doctor, Doctor of the Faculty of the Sky, to whom the suffering come to Chesney, W.D. Infra Red Rays and The Lower Frequencies of the Luminous Spectrum in Therapeutics.
demand a cure for their ills. 1 Educational Series no.4. Chicago: McIntosh Electrical Corporation, 1920.

It might seem natural, even obvious, to associate sunny days with play, pleasure, and well-
Cormack, Bill. A History of Holidays, 1812-1990. Volume 4 of “The History of Tourism: Thomas Cook and the
being. But the connection between sunshine and health has been historically less a matter of Origins of Leisure Travel.” London: Routledge and Thomas Cook Archives, 1998.
instinct than a deeply naturalised therapeutic practice, and one especially dating to the turn of
the twentieth century. This is the subject of the exhibition, “Our Friend, the Sun: Images of Gilli, Dr. “La cure solaire pratique en phtisiothérapie,” 1er Congrès français de climatothérapie et d’hygiène
Light Therapeutics from the Osler Library Collection, c.1901-1944” (the Osler Library of the urbaine, tenu à Nice du 4 au 9 Avril 1904. Nice et Monaco: [S.I.], 1904, pp.455-62.

History of Medicine, McGill University, January-June 2011).

Kassabian, Mihran Krikor. Röntgen Rays and Electro-Therapeutics, with Chapters on Radium and
The development of light therapeutics is a little-explored dimension in the history of medicine. Phototherapy. Philadelphia and London: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1907.
The following exhibition presents an international visual culture of light therapies during the
Kellogg, John Harvey. Hygiène populaire et moniteur de la santé. Bâle: Librairie Polyglotte, 1897.
early twentieth century, considering both natural light – cure by sunlight or heliotherapy – and
artificial light – cure by electrically manufactured light or phototherapy. Heliotherapy, an an- Kellogg, John Harvey. “Heliotherapy,” in Solomon Solis Cohen, ed. A System of Physiologic Therapeutics: A
cient practice of total bodily exposure to sunlight, and phototherapy, pioneered by Niels Ryberg Practical Exposition of the Methods, Other than Drug-Giving, Useful in the Prevention of Disease and in
Finsen in the 1890s, were considered to be revolutionary therapies by c.1900 for sufferers of the Treatment of the Sick. Volume 9: Hydrotherapy, Thermotherapy, Heliotherapy, and Phototherapy.
pulmonary tuberculosis, smallpox, and lupus, as well as chronic conditions such as arthritis. London: Rebman, 1902.

The exhibition features in particular the work of four physicians: John Harvey Kellogg (1852- Kellogg, John Harvey. The Battle Creek Sanitarium System: History, Organization, Methods. Battle Creek,
1943); Auguste Rollier (1874-1954); Albert Monteuuis (fl.1900-1914); and Niels Ryberg Finsen Michigan: [S.I.], 1909.
(1860-1904). American, Swiss, French, and Danish, respectively, these four physicians knew of
Kellogg, John Harvey. Light Therapeutics: A Practical Manual of Phototherapy for the Student and the
each other’s work and, in some cases, visited each other’s facilities, indicating that light thera-
Practitioner. Battle Creek, Michigan: The Good Health Publishing Company, 1910.
peutics was an international field. Kellogg and Finsen also individually experimented with both
heliotherapy and phototherapy, evidence that the two were far from antithetical treatments or Kellogg, John Harvey. Light Therapeutics: A Practical Manual of Phototherapy for the Student and the
chronologically separated. Indeed, while Finsen may have begun experimenting with natural Practitioner. 2nd edition. Battle Creek, Michigan: The Modern Medicine Publishing Company, 1927.
light in the outdoors initially during the 1890s (soon abandoning this entirely for artificial elec-
Leredde and Pautrier, Drs. Photothérapie et photobiologie: role thérapeutique et role biologique de la lumière.
tric light), Kellogg would use both simultaneously, and Rollier continued to utilise natural light
Paris: Masson, 1903.
from the turn of the century to the Second World War, having never converted to artificial
COVER: Fig.1 “Wise people have this gentleman for their family doctor,” from J. Mace
1 | TANIA WOLOSHYN Andress and W.A. Evans. Success and Health. Canadian Hygiene Series. Toronto: Ginn
OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 22
and Company, 1925, p.117.
Endnotes means. Therefore while the exhibition is divided into two halves, heliotherapy (the two left
1
“De même qu’il est le principe de toutes vie, le soleil est la source de toute guérison. C’est le Soleil, et unique-
cases) and phototherapy (the two right cases), significant cross-over occurred between the two
ment le Soleil, que les malades viennent chercher pendant l’hiver sur notre littoral. Il est le Grand Médecin, Doc- – in their historical developments, in their visual cultures, in their methods, and in the shared
teur de la Faculté du Ciel, auquel ceux qui souffrent viennent demander la guérison de leurs maux.” J. Orgeas, scientific beliefs driving them as therapies.
L’hiver à Cannes. Guide descriptif, historique, scientifique, médical et pratique (Cannes: Figère et Guiglion, 1889),
p.466. Significantly, these physicians asserted the ancient, quasi-magical origins of light therapeutics at
2
“...le plus puissant de tous les désinfectants naturels; il n’est pas de germe morbide qui résiste aux rayons directs
du soleil, choléra, consomption, diphtérie, fièvres scarlatine et typhoïde, et autres maladies.” J.H. Kellogg, Hygiè-
the same time as they advocated it as a “modern” therapeutic of sound scientific rationale. So
ne populaire et moniteur de la santé (Bâle: Librairie Polyglotte, 1897), p.108. too did they posit it as a welcome, pleasurable and comfortable experience while simultane-
3
“La lumière, en même temps qu’elle tue les germes infectieux, dessèche la plaie, excite la circulation des tissus, ously including photographs of patients strapped down, exposed to the sun almost nude in win-
augmente l’hémoglobine, favorise les échanges endosmotiques, et par suite la formation des cellules normales.”
E. Onimus, L’hiver dans les Alpes-Maritimes et dans la Principauté de Monaco; climatologie et hygiène (Paris: G. ter, or subjected to gun-like electric machines. Themes of natural and artificial, ancient and
Masson, 1894), p.294. modern, and pleasurable and painful within the history and visual culture of light therapeutics
4
“Le sang absorbe, il est vrai, une grande partie des rayons violets, mais le chimisme de la lumière n’est pas en-
illuminate this exhibition of rare illustrated texts and objects from the Osler Library collection. It
tièrement épuisé à son contact, et ses propriétés stimulantes et bactéricides ont une zone de pénétration plus
étendue.” Dr Gilli, “La cure solaire pratique en phtisiothérapie,” 1er Congrès français de climatothérapie et d’hy- also considers how heliotherapeutic and phototherapeutic practices were disseminated and
giène urbaine, tenu à Nice du 4 au 9 Avril 1904 (Monaco: Imprimerie de Monaco *Nice: Imprimerie de l’Eclaireur+, popularized by that visual culture.
1904, pp.455-62), p.456.
5
Sir J.H. Gauvain, “Foreword,” in A. Rollier, Heliotherapy (London: Oxford Medical Publications; Henry Frowde and The historical relationship between sunlight and health in modern Western cultures has only
Hodder & Stoughton, 1923), p.xi.
6 begun to be explored, and yet is fundamental to contextualizing current debates in the medical
“Les enfants, - convalescents, délicats, ou simplement prédisposés à la tuberculose, - vivent là en pleine cam-
pagne. Ils partagent leur temps entre les exercices de gymnastique respiratoire, les promenades, les petits and popular press on the benefits and risks of light exposure, particularly regarding skin can-
travaux agricoles ou de jardinage et les exercices scolaires. Les débuts sont toujours prudents et progressifs, afin cers. This research is also valuable at a time of increasing public concern over the impact of cli-
que l’acclimatement des nouveaux venus s’effectue régulièrement et sans à-coups.” A. Rollier, L’école au soleil
(Paris: Baillière et Fils; Lausanne: Constant Tarin, 1915), p.15. mate change. You, the viewer and visitor, are especially invited to add your comments and
7
“Le plus utile que je puisse remplir est, à mon avis, de faire oeuvre de vulgarisation, de travailler à mettre entre thoughts, even your own personal experiences of the sunshine, in the Visitors’ Book.
les mains de tous, un moyen aussi simple que puissant, pour les gens du monde et le peuple de fortifier la santé,
pour les praticiens de traiter les maladies chroniques.” A. Monteuuis, L’usage chez soi des bains d’air, de lumière
et de soleil; leur valeur pratique dans le traitement des maladies chroniques et dans l’hygiène journalière (Paris: A.
Maloine, 1911), p.8. HELIOTHERAPY
8
In the same book (1944), he described the daily schedule of the children at his facilities: “L’horaire journalier de
l’École au Soleil est le suivant: “The deep study of the sun’s rays which has been made by physicists
7 h. Réveil, bains, toilette.
7 h. 30 Déjeuner (laitages ou cacao, pain, beurre et fruits). within the last few years, has thrown a great flood of light upon this sub-
8 h. 10 École au grand air et au soleil (classes fixes et mobiles) exercices de gymnastique respiratoire et rythmi- ject which is of precious value to clinicians. A very important practical fact
que. En cas de mauvais temps, les leçons se donnent sur les terrasses couvertes ou dans les salles d’étude.
is the great variability of the intensity of the sunlight and especially of ul-
10-11 h. Exercices physiques, jeux, sports d’été ou d’hiver.
11-12 h. Repos et cure d’air. tra-violet rays, an element of highest interest from a therapeutic stand-
12 h. Lunch (potage, céréales, légumes, entremets – très peu de viande – fruits). point” (Kellogg, 1910, p.15).
13-15 h. Repos et silence au grand air, en position étendue, ventrale ou dorsale.
15 h. Collation (lait ou chocolat). Recently, Simon Carter has devoted some attention to heliotherapy in his 2007 book, Rise and
15 h. 30 Promenades, excursions, sports, jeux ou gymnastique.
17 h. Travaux scolaires. Shine: Sunlight, Technology and Health; his focus is, however, primarily British and from the
18 h. 15 Dîner (comme à midi mais sans viande). 1920s onwards. Indeed, popular history books tell us that the act of exposing one’s body to the
19 h. 30 – 20 h. 30 Gymnastique respiratoire, toilette, coucher.” A. Rollier, Quarante ans d’héliothérapie
sun’s rays dates only to the 1920s, as a “tourist fad” for the purposes of beautification:
(Lausanne: F. Rouge & Cie, 1944), p.146.
9
“A de rares exceptions près, tous les peuples admirent dans leurs panthéons le soleil sous des noms différents. The craze for hot sun and blue skies is hardly fifty years old, a fashion originally
Ce fut plus spécialement autour du bassin de la Méditerranée, berceau de toutes les civilisations, que le culte du
soleil prit un développement considérable.” J. Malgat, La cure solaire de la tuberculose pulmonaire chronique created by German naturists who wished to expose their bodies in comfort. Sun-
(Paris: Librairie J.-B. Baillière et Fils, 1911), p.8. bathing became a cult which succeeded the virtues of drinking sea water, the
doubtful benefits of being dipped in a very cold sea and the merits of breathing

21 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 2

 mythical ozone-charged air. Until the 1920s, it was generally believed that the Guided by such visual and textual material, light therapeutics emerges as simultaneously
rays of the sun were injurious and debilitating (Cormack, 1998, p.115). scientifically advanced and, for all intents and purposes, magically healing. Indeed, Kellogg
used these exact descriptions in his 1910 Light Therapeutics:
Note the words used by Cormack: fashion, cult, mythical. And here, in Mary Blume’s 1992 his-
tory of the Côte d’Azur, sun tanning is explained as popularized during the 1920s by rich fash- Under the magic influence of these miracle-working rays, the elements found
ionistas: in earth, air and water are organized into molecular groups, some comprising
thousands of atoms, the breaking up of which, as the result of vital activity,
By the late ’20s the sunbathing habit was widespread *....+ The first sunbathers
liberates the light energy employed in holding together these organic unities,
were probably anonymous Scandinavians or Germans: it took names to make a
permitting the energy thus set free to manifest itself in muscular and mental
habit chic. Already in 1919 the French tennis champion Suzanne Lenglen had re-
effort, and various other forms of vital work (pp.23-24).
fused to wear a corset or a hat .... Her arms were bare, except when covered by
the white ermine coat she warmed up in, and her face deeply tanned. Then, in Note not only his use of the words magic and miracle-working, but the metaphor of power
1923, Coco Chanel descended the gangway of the Duke of Westminster’s yacht, and liberation to describe the process of light upon life. The photographs and other illustra-
brown as a cabin boy (1992, p.74). tions in light therapy manuals provide that conviction: the “after” picture convinces us of the
efficacy of the treatment, of its magic. But are the physical processes at work here to create
In both narratives, sun tanning is historically positioned as novel, fashionable and devoid of any
that effect – that magic – those of the light treatment or the photographic process?
real medical basis. Primary medical texts of the late 1890s and early 1900s suggest otherwise.
John Harvey Kellogg, in his 1910 book Light Therapeutics, declared that he had been using sun- The images exhibited here depict a rich and complex view of the intertwined histories of he-
baths in Michigan since 1876 (p.10). Indeed there is a wealth of primary texts and images that liotherapy and phototherapy. Yet approaching them, the historian requires constant critical
suggest a much earlier beginning to the history of the bain de soleil, many of which are pre- awareness that such material is at once document and representation.
sented here from the Osler’s collection. This history is also intertwined with late nineteenth-
century developments in laboratory medicine, the discovery of germ theory, and experiments
in light physics.
- Dr Tania Anne Woloshyn
Physicians were aware that scientists such as Arthur Downes, Thomas Blunt, Louis Pasteur, and
Robert Koch had published studies on the antibacterial properties of light. Koch had demon-
strated that ultra-violet rays destroyed bacteria, most importantly the tuberculosis bacillus. The I wish to express my deepest thanks to the Osler Library for the History of Medicine and its
experiments of the destructive action of light on bacteria by Downes and Blunt of 1877 are ref- excellent staff, especially Christopher Lyons, Pamela Miller, Lily Szczygiel and Diane Philip,
erenced frequently in heliotherapeutic handbooks, irrefutable proof of the efficacy of sunlight without whom this exhibition would be impossible. I would also like to thank Dr. Shena Ro-
in combating tuberculosis. In a French publication of 1897, Hygiène populaire et moniteur de la senblatt Sourkes and Dr. Theodore Sourkes for generously lending their time, their help, and
santé, Kellogg asserted that the sun was “...the most powerful of all natural antiseptics; no mor- their invaluable memories. This exhibition and the research revolving around it forms a major
bid germ can resist the direct rays of the sun, cholera, consumption [tuberculosis], diphtheria, part of a post-doctoral research project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Re-
scarlet fever and typhoid fever, and other diseases.”2 If sunlight could kill bacteria spread onto search Council of Canada and based in the department of Art History & Communication Stu-
a microscope’s glass slide, it could kill bacteria living in the blood and tissues of the tubercular dies at McGill University.
patient. Penetrating the epidermal layers, the sun’s luminous rays could activate the body’s vi-
tal forces, initiating a reaction that would spread throughout it entirely. Physicians described
sunlight as a source that activated nutrition, excited the tissues, increased circulation of the
blood, and improved respiration.3 In this way it was understood as a natural regenerative agent.

3 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 20

CONCLUSIONS: Furthermore, physicians rapidly adopted the emerging vocabulary of germ theory to promote
sunlight as naturally bactericidal: “The blood absorbs a great amount of violet rays, it is true,
As late as 2001, in his book Sultry Climates: Sex and Travel since the Grand Tour, Ian Little-
but the chimera that is light is not entirely exhausted by its contact, and its invigorating and
wood stated:
bactericidal properties have a deeper zone of penetration.”4 Clearly heliotherapists and photo-
Like the fashion for visiting spa towns and, later, seaside resorts, sunbathing therapists were actively experimenting with the latest scientific and medical discoveries. Sun-
called medical evidence in its support [....] But among tourists, considerations tanning, in this context, was no trivial fashion trend.
of health and virtue were secondary. As a reason for doing what is pleasurable,
This, of course, is also the period during which Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was credited with the
medical arguments, like moral ones, have always been suspect [....] Medical
official and published study of x-rays, in 1895, for which he won the first Nobel Prize in Physics
opinion played its part in promoting sun-worship, but the new fashion owed
(though he was among many scientists conducting experiments on rays in the 1890s). Soon af-
more to an instinctive recognition of the sun as a source of well-being (pp.197-
terwards Marie Curie discovered polonium and radium, radioactive substances, and these
198).
greatly enhanced the development of radiotherapy. For her research in physics (1903) and
Littlewood’s account of the history of sun therapy positions medical opinion as a convenient chemistry (1911), she was awarded two Nobel Prizes. This was therefore a fertile period in the
afterthought or a conspiratorial falsity used to justify “instinct.” Unfortunately, this reading of field of light physics and light therapeutics, sanctioned by the Nobel foundation and interna-
history is not just misinformed but lazy. The wealth of medical evidence in the Osler Library tionally recognized.
contradicts popular accounts of the history of light therapies. So too does the visual material
complicate and enrich that history, an agent actively participating in the formation of histori-
cal perspectives. In a diagram by Dr Théo Nogier, for instance, the production, transmission
and utilisation of the sun’s rays are visualised in a surprisingly artistic way (Fig.19). One might
well ask why should this be necessarily depicted in such a manner? What kinds of aesthetic
choices have been made by this physician to convey the sun’s action on plant and animal life?
Like Kellogg’s model-patients and photomontages, aesthetic preoccupations directed visuali-
zations of the treatments, their effects and their efficacy.

Fig.19 “Schéma représentant la production, la

transmission et l’utilisation des rayons émis par le
Soleil,” from T. Nogier. Les bases scientifiques de
la thérapeutique par la lumière (Rayons visibles et
rayons invisibles). Lyon: L’Avenir médical, 1913,
p.13.
Fig.2 “Indoor Sun-Bath,” from J.H. Kellogg, “Heliotherapy,” in S.S. Cohen, ed.
A System of Physiologic Therapeutics. Vol. 9. London: Rebman, 1902, p.215.

19 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 4

METHODS It is, all in all, an odd thing, made even more odd by its context: it is from a book that is specifi-
cally addressed to students and practitioners of phototherapy, therefore not for the lay public
Just as there were numerous practitioners, there were numerous heliotherapeutic modes of
or even necessarily for the patient. In images of the arc light on the model’s chest, we are
application. Kellogg’s early image of an isolated patient undergoing an indoor sunbath (Fig.2) –
given a privileged, eroticised view of female flesh, clad in Art Deco attire and frilly undergar-
a general application to the entire body, yet through glass panes – is quite different from his
ments. Her hairstyle and clothing are in keeping with the date of this second edition (1927).
later photographs of men lounging outdoors on towels within the grounds of his Michigan sana-
The extreme artifice of the image – of her pose, of her status as patient, of her supposed us-
torium, Battle Creek (Fig.3).
age of the device, and of the photograph’s manipulation itself – is made all the more resonant
when viewed side-by-side with the image from Kellogg’s original, first edition of the manual of
1910 (Fig.18). Paired together, the effect is one of freedom as opposed to constraint, enjoy-
ment to indifference, pleasure to discomfort.

Fig.3 Untitled photograph of men

sun-bathing, from J.H. Kellogg.
The Battle Creek Sanitarium Sys-
tem: History, Organization, Meth- Fig.17 “Arc Light to the Chest,”
ods. Battle Creek, Michigan: [S.I.], photomontage [?], from J.H. Kel-
1909, p.148. logg. Light Therapeutics: A Practical
Manual of Phototherapy for the
Student and the Practitioner. Battle
Creek, 1927 [2nd edition], opp.
p.108.

In Dr A. Aimes’ publication of 1914, La pratique de l’héliothérapie, we are presented with a hap-

hazard scene of children, unclothed but for a white loin cloth and protective hat, sitting before
a makeshift solarium, and by the caption the author infers how inexpensive the sun-cure can be
made available to all (Fig.4).

Fig.18 “Arc Light to the Chest,”

photograph from J.H. Kellogg.
Fig.4 “Solarium installé à peu de frais au moyen Light Therapeutics: A Practical
d’abris de toile,” from A. Aimes. La pratique de Manual of Phototherapy for the
l’héliothérapie, 2nd ed. Paris: A. Maloine et Fils, Student and the Practitioner.
1914, unpag. Battle Creek, 1910 [1st edition],
opp. p.94.

5 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 18

The photographs of children laughing and playing in the sunlight, or of happy results in “after” pic- Likewise the positions of the patients, the equipment used on them, and their exposure times dif-
tures, correlate to Monteuuis’ explanation that treatment by light produced relief, even euphoria, fered remarkably. Known as the “High Priest of modern Sun-worshippers,”5 Auguste Rollier cre-
in the patient. In other visual instances, however, patients are being treated in such a way as to ated several outdoor sanatoria in the Swiss mountains for tubercular adults and children. Rollier
suggest tremendous discomfort with the procedure: held down, encased, bound by the hands of advocated a total body treatment of natural sunlight, not simply for specific lesions on the surface
the nurse, by cloth or by leather straps (Fig.11). but for a holistic, immune-boosting regeneration of the whole body.
He illustrated his method by means of a highly artistic, anatomical drawing of a male figure (Fig.5),
sectioning areas of the body according to sunlight exposure. This was a highly systematised, pro-
Fig.16 “At this distance the lens is gressive process of exposure to sunlight, starting with the feet and always avoiding the head, for
directing rays over the area seen on
fear of sunstroke.
the patient’s chest. This represents
an application to affected portion of
the chest in tuberculosis,” from S.H.
Monell. A System of Instruction in X-
ray Methods and Medical Uses of
Light, Hot-Air, Vibration and High-
Frequency Currents: Prepared espe-
cially for the Post-Graduate Home
Study of Surgeons, General Physi-
cians, Dentists [etc.]. New York: E. R.
Pelton, 1902, p.704.

Figure sixteen is even more extreme: a photograph of a patient blind-folded (one assumes in lieu
of protective goggles), arms grasping his chair, shirtless and motionless in front of an electric light
machine that resembles a large gun more than a lamp. However, we have little indication of the
patients’ personal experiences of the process of the treatment, and they remain anonymous enti-
ties within the manuals. In other cases, models or stand-ins who are clearly not patients turn up
to demonstrate the techniques for using phototherapeutic equipment.
By the 1920s, physicians such as Kellogg began incorporating images that appear more like con- Fig.5 Exposure chart from A. Rollier. La cure de soleil. 2nd ed. Paris: Librairie J.-B.
temporaneous advertisements. Unlike the photographs of patients being treated by phototherapy Baillière et Fils, 1936, p.39.
for lupus, in figure seventeen we are presented with a fresh-faced, smiling model, coiffed in the
latest 1920s crop. The impression is that this phototherapeutic treatment is neither uncomfort-
This chart indicates that Rollier and his staff monitored his patients intensely. Yet in photographs
able nor distressing, but in fact an enjoyable process. The ambiguity of her surroundings, resem-
accompanying his various publications, patients are shown receiving sun treatment in surprisingly
bling a photographer’s studio, is heightened by the impossibilities of the scene: the rays of the
different circumstances: in figure six, a child is strapped to a bed, wearing only a loincloth for cov-
lamp (which itself appears hand-drawn) shine on her chest and yet continue undisturbed beyond
erage in the alpine air. His nurses wheel him onto a terrace for treatment; in figure seven, children
her. And note her poise, the artificiality of her body position, even her heels. It is clear this is no
are skiing in the same loincloths, exposing their bodies while engaging in physical activity on the
patient.
mountain slopes.

17 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 6

 The word cult crops up repeatedly in heliotherapeutic material and appears to have been em-
ployed by physicians to naturalise new medical conceptions of the sun occurring during the late
nineteenth century: the transition from man’s instinctive, ritualistic relationship with the sun to
a modern medical one. It was common among these physicians to establish an ancient and na-
tural heritage for their treatment, citing Hippocrates, Celsus, and Galen as the original advoca-
tes of sun baths (Rollier, 1923, p.1). Such ancient heritage, however, did not interfere with the
simultaneous belief that light therapeutics occupied the forefront of progressive medicine, es-
pecially following Finsen’s discoveries in the curative potential of light for lupus and his subse-
quent Nobel Prize (Allen, 1904, p.426). Faith in modernity’s new possibilities, in electric light, X-
rays and radiotherapy, drove many physicians to expound at length the near-miraculous pow-
ers of light therapeutics; for Dr Allen, praising “luminaries” like Finsen gave way to poetic decla-
rations:
Though exaggerated optimism should be warned against, still it seems to me the
time has arrived when we must lay aside doubts, fears, and prejudices and real-
ize that we are entering upon an entirely new era in the science of medicine,
whose horizon grows brighter the more we strive to penetrate it. Our present
efforts will be largely expended in a study of these newer agencies as applied to
Fig.6 “Arrivée d’un malade sur le solarium à l’aide de l’ascenseur,” at “Les Frê- the detection and cure of disease. Nothing need be said of the numerous work-
nes” clinic (Leysin), from A. Rollier. La cure de soleil. Paris: Baillière & fils; Lau- ers in these new spheres of discovery. Their achievements are of themselves far
sanne: C. Tarin, 1915, p.60. too luminous to require any laudatory remark, and no brilliancy of verbiage
could add to their lustre (Allen, 1904, pp.18-19).

Wittily enough, he attempts to do so anyway. Returning to the images themselves, it is perhaps

not surprising that Allen would go to such literary extremes. The transformations shown – from
open, suppurating wounds, disfiguring and unsightly manifestations of tuberculosis, or painful-
looking bone malformations to bronzed, closed skin, bodies whole, upright and healed, and
smiling faces – are, quite simply, extraordinary.

PLEASURABLE AND PAINFUL

“For beginners the sun bath should last for a quarter of an hour only, but
afterwards the bath may be prolonged for an hour or even longer, for the
patient experiences a feeling of comfort and relief all the
time.” (Monteuuis, 1907, p.55)
Fig.7 Front cover of The Sun Cure in Dr. A. Rollier’s Clinics, Leysin (Switzerland), Swiss
Alpine Heliotherapic [sic] Resort. [S.I.]: Thomas Cook and Son, c.1921

7 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 16

 They are seemingly unmonitored, free and left to their own devices outside of the sanatorium
grounds. Happy, unfettered and liberated, such “patients” appear a far cry from the drawn figu-
re of Rollier’s systematized chart.
Games, sports, and heliotherapy are portrayed in many of Rollier’s photographs as complemen-
tary activities, enervating and pleasurable for the child. For Rollier, this was an essential part of
Fig.15 “Fillette atteinte de mal de Pott dorsal avec
the treatment:
gibbosité très prononcée. Paraplégie, atrophie de
la musculature.” “La même au bout de quinze The children, - convalescent, delicate, or simply predisposed to tuberculosis, -
mois d’héliothérapie. Guérison du mal de Pott et live there [in Leysin] in the countryside. They share their time between exercises
de la paraplégie. Correction de la gibbosité, re- of respiratory gymnastics, walks, small tasks at the farm or in the garden, and
constitution de la musculature et d’état général.” school exercises. The beginning is always careful and progressive, so that accli-
“Photographie prise vingt-cinq ans après le dé- matisation of the newcomers is consistent and smooth.6
part de Leysin. Mariée, cette ancienne malade
pratique la médecine et s’adonne à tous les In other words, once the children had sufficiently acclimated to the intense sunshine at such a
sports. Sa santé est restée excellente.” A. Rollier. high altitude, they could spend hours and hours engaging in outdoor pursuits to maximize sun-
La cure de soleil. 2nd ed. Paris: Librairie J.-B. Bail- light exposure.
lière et Fils, 1936, planche I.
At the same time that Rollier was opening his sanatoria in the Swiss mountains, an establish-
ment entitled Sylvabelle in La Croix-Val-Mer, near Saint-Tropez on the Côte d’Azur, opened in
1904 as an explicitly naturist sanatorium, under the supervision of a Dr Albert Monteuuis. Mon-
teuuis wrote extensively on heliotherapy and other natural therapies. He promoted heliothera-
py as a natural treatment for the benefit of all citizens suffering from chronic illness. 7 His book
on air, light, and sunbaths was first published in 1904, translated into English as early as 1907,
and republished in 1911. A member of the Société française d’hygiène de Paris, he first practi-
sed exclusively on the northern coast, on the beach of Malo, and was a native of Dunkerque. By
ANCIENT AND MODERN 1904, he would practice in Dunkerque in the summer and at Sylvabelle in the winter until ap-
proximately 1910, later practicing in Nice. His facility was captured in postcards showing an iso-
“With rare exception, all people worship the sun in their pantheons under
lated haven for the patient in need (Fig.8).
different names. It was especially around the basin of the Mediterranean,
cradle of all civilisations, that the cult of the sun [sun worship] took a consi-
derable development.”9 (Malgat, 1911, p.8)

Fig.8 “Sylvabelle – La Croix (Var).

This passage by Malgat was included in his historical justification of heliotherapy, tracing its ori- Maison Médicale de Régimes, Hélio-
gins back to primitive peoples and antiquity. This was a common practice of light therapists, who thérapie, Hydrothérapie, Massages.
sought to provide an ancient justification for their radical interest in sunlight. Établissement et Terrasse dominant
la Baie de Cavalaire,” postcard,
c.1912.

15 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 8

In his 1907 edition on sun, light, and air baths, Monteuuis described the bain or cure de soleil
as a general exposure of the unclothed body to the sunlight outdoors, as Rollier would also
advocate. To perform the cure, the patient would lie in a sheltered place on a mattress, tur-
ning every few minutes. This was called the “direct bath.” It was followed by the patient being
wrapped in blankets for what was called an “indirect bath,” meant to produce perspiration
and thus the opening of the pores (Monteuuis, 1907, pp.54-55).

It was Monteuuis’s hope to popularize heliotherapy for the benefit of all citizens suffering
from chronic illness. His goal was made obvious in the modification of the title of his 1911 re-
publication: L’usage chez soi des bains d’air, de lumière et de soleil; leur valeur pratique dans
Fig.14 Untitled frontispiece of A. Rollier.
le traitement des maladies chroniques et dans l’hygiène journalière, with the emphasis on ho-
Quarante ans d’héliothérapie. Lausanne: F.
me treatment and daily hygiene for the chronically ill (“chez soi”). One could take a bain de
Rouge, Librairie de l’Université, 1944.
soleil, he said, in the bedroom, in a hotel room, or in the garden. Monteuuis’s 1911 title im-
plies that patients could take individual responsibility for their own cure, but only if armed
with the right medical knowledge.

PHOTOTHERAPY

Finsen is known as the inventor of phototherapy or artificial light therapy, and for this he won
the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1903, being the third person to win it in this category. He died
from Pick’s disease the year after. He began experimenting with natural and, soon afterwards,
artificial light from the early 1890s in order to treat lupus. In 1896 he founded the Medical
Light Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was later known as the Finsen Institute and was
funded by the state, which gives some indication of how quickly his research was widely ac- Figure fourteen is a photograph of a young girl, almost nude, on the balcony of one of Rollier’s
cepted and encouraged (Kassabian, 1907, p.517). Leysin sanatoria. As a patient at his facility, the child in Rollier’s photograph would have followed
a strict medical regime throughout the day.8 Yet does the photograph suggest this? It absolutely
Finsen’s experiments with light began through an observation of its negative influence on
does not. With her giddy, playful gestures and shameless presentation of her almost naked body,
variola, also known as smallpox. He realised that, if the patient was placed in a room totally
she expresses the feeling of total bodily liberation. The extreme contrasts of light and shadow
devoid of all but red light within the first stages of smallpox, known as the stage of vesicula-
across her body and on the platform indicate she is receiving the direct impact of brilliant, unobs-
tion or blistering of the skin, the disease did not develop into the stage of suppuration (in
tructed sunshine. It is so bright that in this photograph her upright arm loses contour, dissolved by
which pus would discharge from the small blisters). By doing so the patient could heal with
the light. Equally, the whiteness of her minimal clothing contrasts with her bronzed skin, denoting
little or no scarring. To do this, he created a room where all the windows were covered by
that she is familiar with the practice and is healing well. In numerous before-and-after photo-
thick, red cloth or a dense, red glass, to filter out all but red rays – rather like a photographer’s
graphs, the contrast between light and dark is emphasized to maximum intensity (Fig.15), with
darkroom.
“before” photos often taking place in darkened interiors to contrast with the patient’s extreme
pallor and “after” photos shot outdoors or in front of white backgrounds to heighten bronzed,
healed skin. The effect is highly convincing, explaining comments by physicians about seemingly
miraculous recoveries. As Monteuuis once declared, “The regenerating action of the sun is so pro-
found that it produces…actual resurrections…” (1911, p.42).

9 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 14

It was donated to the Osler Library by Dr Shena Rosenblatt Sourkes and Dr Theodore Sourkes. The
lamp originally belonged to Dr Rosenblatt Sourkes’ mother, Dr Ginda Rosenblatt, a Russian physi-
cian practising at the time in Romania (in the region now known as the Moldavian Republic) dur-
ing the 1920s. The lamp was used on many patients, for any and all complaints, but especially pul-
monary tuberculosis. She and her family immigrated to Canada soon afterwards, bringing the
lamp with them but never using it again. Colour filters of red and blue glass could be added in or-
der to change the intensity and type of luminous rays allowed to pass through on to the patient,
depending upon the illness and required treatment.
Fig.9 Solar Spectrum, from W.D. Chesney. Infra Red Rays and the Lower Frequencies
Major themes are present within the primary literature and images around both heliotherapy and of the Luminous Spectrum in Therapeutics. Educational Series no.4, Chicago: McIntosh
phototherapy, tensions and inconsistencies that deserve further exploration. What, for example, Electrical Corporation, 1920, unpag.
is “natural” about these natural therapies? Is our relationship with the sun instinctual? And are
these images documentary or in fact highly constructed, even manipulated, representations of Finsen explained that the red light of the spectrum was the weakest in terms of concentrated
light therapy that pass themselves off as natural, pleasurable, and liberating? Were these thera- chemical action. Red light is furthest on the spectrum from ultra-violet (UV) and violet light,
pies enjoyable or comfortable processes for the patients? In these manuals, do the texts and the highest in chemical or “actinic” as well as bactericidal action (Fig.9). Finsen then focussed on
images correlate or challenge each other? the ultra-violet end of the spectrum to treat lupus, using them, in the words of phototherapist
Charles Warrenne Allen, “with a view to destroying the germs and the impaired tissue in para-
sitic and germ diseases. At no time does the treatment assume the form of a simple stimulation
to the tissues, the action always understood to be either a cauterant of mild character or a re-
ducing agent” (1904, pp.426-427). Here UV rays were first employed by Finsen for their de-
NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL
structive action.
“In all ages there have been Sun-worshippers. It could not be otherwise. Ter- Finsen published his findings throughout the 1890s in Danish, and later these were gathered
restrial life craves for the golden rays.” (Sir John Henry Gauvain, in Rollier, and translated into English as early as 1901, in a book simply called Phototherapy; the French
1923, p.ix) version appeared in 1903, though shorter works of his had already been published in French
and German by 1899. Before-and-after photographs of lupus patients were included in all of
these publications (Fig.10). The photographs here are employed for their documentary func-
In Sir J. Henry Gauvain’s quote, included within a preface to Rollier’s 1923 British publication tion, to record the progress of the treatment and of healing, evidence of the efficacy of light
Heliotherapy, sun-therapy is described as little different from sun-worship. In doing so, Gauvain therapy.
described the highly regimented and surveyed medical processes of light therapeutics as some-
thing instinctive and thus natural. Investing in natural means and natural forces was the premise
behind heliotherapy and, at least initially, behind phototherapy. Kellogg himself referred to his
system as the “physiologic” or “natural” method, yet he warned his readers that the use of simple
Fig.10 Before and after photographs of
elements - light, air, water - was by no means a simple task for the layman: “The application of the an anonymous lupus patient, from Drs
physiologic method requires much more than simply a knowledge of the technique of baths, elec- Leredde and Pautrier, Photothérapie et
tricity, movements, etc. It especially requires a knowledge of physiology, and an intelligent grasp photobiologie: role thérapeutique et
of all the resources of modern medical science” (Kellogg, 1909, p.15). Another contributor to Rol- role biologique de la lumière. Paris:
Masson, 1903, p.209.
lier’s 1923 book, Caleb W. Saleeby, put it more bluntly: “In spite of its apparent simplicity, the
practice of heliotherapy demands great attention to detail and constant supervision” (p.vii).

13 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 10

METHODS Various types of lamps were developed, each manufacturer or doctor declaring its superiority
over all others. Our exhibition “showpiece” is a quartz lamp of c.1920-1925, the Hanau
Finsen explained that he began with natural sunlight modified through glass, but after realizing
“Sollux” (Fig.13).
UV rays cannot pass through ordinary glass, he switched to quartz lens. He later moved to elec-
tric light devices, needing more concentrated and readily available rays at his disposal (Fig.11).
Finsen also developed skin compressors, in order to compress the skin and tissues around the
sore and remove blood from the area, which he discovered greatly facilitated the treatment by
allowing the light to penetrate deeper. In figure eleven, the compressor is used on the cheek of
the male patient in the left foreground; a nurse holds his head still so that the long tube of the
Fig.12 “Author’s Horizontal Incandescent
machine can point directly at the compressed area, and both patient and nurse wear protective Electric Light Cabinet,” from J.H. Kellogg,
goggles to shield their eyes from the damaging UV rays. “Heliotherapy,” in S.S. Cohen, ed. A System
of Physiologic Therapeutics. Vol. 9. London:
Rebman, 1902, p.233.

Fig.11 “Apparatus for Localized

Electrophototherapy. – (Finsen.),”
from J.H. Kellogg, “Heliotherapy,”
in S.S. Cohen, ed. A System of
Physiologic Therapeutics. Vol. 9.
London: Rebman, 1902, p.229.

Kellogg himself went to Copenhagen, in 1899 and 1902, to visit Finsen at his Light Institute. At
the Battle Creek Sanitarium, Kellogg continued to experiment with natural and artificial light, Fig.13 Hanau “Sollux” Quartz Lamp, c.1920-
inventing his own machines and special devices (Fig.12): 1925. Donated to the Osler Library, McGill
University, by Dr. Shena Rosenblatt Sourkes
Phototherapy holds a very prominent place in the Battle Creek Sanitarium Sys- and Dr. Theodore Sourkes.
tem. It is here that the incandescent light was first utilized as a therapeutic
means. Here the first electric-light bath was constructed. The original model de-
vised and still in use here has been closely followed by those who have employed
this bath in various parts of the world. At the present time, this important thera-
peutic means is recognized and utilized by progressive therapists in all civilized
countries. Thousands are in use in the leading hospitals and sanitariums of
Europe, and the value of this bath is rapidly coming into recognition in this coun-
try (Kellogg, 1909, p.85).

11 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 12

METHODS Various types of lamps were developed, each manufacturer or doctor declaring its superiority
over all others. Our exhibition “showpiece” is a quartz lamp of c.1920-1925, the Hanau
Finsen explained that he began with natural sunlight modified through glass, but after realizing
“Sollux” (Fig.13).
UV rays cannot pass through ordinary glass, he switched to quartz lens. He later moved to elec-
tric light devices, needing more concentrated and readily available rays at his disposal (Fig.11).
Finsen also developed skin compressors, in order to compress the skin and tissues around the
sore and remove blood from the area, which he discovered greatly facilitated the treatment by
allowing the light to penetrate deeper. In figure eleven, the compressor is used on the cheek of
the male patient in the left foreground; a nurse holds his head still so that the long tube of the
Fig.12 “Author’s Horizontal Incandescent
machine can point directly at the compressed area, and both patient and nurse wear protective Electric Light Cabinet,” from J.H. Kellogg,
goggles to shield their eyes from the damaging UV rays. “Heliotherapy,” in S.S. Cohen, ed. A System
of Physiologic Therapeutics. Vol. 9. London:
Rebman, 1902, p.233.

Fig.11 “Apparatus for Localized

Electrophototherapy. – (Finsen.),”
from J.H. Kellogg, “Heliotherapy,”
in S.S. Cohen, ed. A System of
Physiologic Therapeutics. Vol. 9.
London: Rebman, 1902, p.229.

Kellogg himself went to Copenhagen, in 1899 and 1902, to visit Finsen at his Light Institute. At
the Battle Creek Sanitarium, Kellogg continued to experiment with natural and artificial light, Fig.13 Hanau “Sollux” Quartz Lamp, c.1920-
inventing his own machines and special devices (Fig.12): 1925. Donated to the Osler Library, McGill
University, by Dr. Shena Rosenblatt Sourkes
Phototherapy holds a very prominent place in the Battle Creek Sanitarium Sys- and Dr. Theodore Sourkes.
tem. It is here that the incandescent light was first utilized as a therapeutic
means. Here the first electric-light bath was constructed. The original model de-
vised and still in use here has been closely followed by those who have employed
this bath in various parts of the world. At the present time, this important thera-
peutic means is recognized and utilized by progressive therapists in all civilized
countries. Thousands are in use in the leading hospitals and sanitariums of
Europe, and the value of this bath is rapidly coming into recognition in this coun-
try (Kellogg, 1909, p.85).

11 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 12

It was donated to the Osler Library by Dr Shena Rosenblatt Sourkes and Dr Theodore Sourkes. The
lamp originally belonged to Dr Rosenblatt Sourkes’ mother, Dr Ginda Rosenblatt, a Russian physi-
cian practising at the time in Romania (in the region now known as the Moldavian Republic) dur-
ing the 1920s. The lamp was used on many patients, for any and all complaints, but especially pul-
monary tuberculosis. She and her family immigrated to Canada soon afterwards, bringing the
lamp with them but never using it again. Colour filters of red and blue glass could be added in or-
der to change the intensity and type of luminous rays allowed to pass through on to the patient,
depending upon the illness and required treatment.
Fig.9 Solar Spectrum, from W.D. Chesney. Infra Red Rays and the Lower Frequencies
Major themes are present within the primary literature and images around both heliotherapy and of the Luminous Spectrum in Therapeutics. Educational Series no.4, Chicago: McIntosh
phototherapy, tensions and inconsistencies that deserve further exploration. What, for example, Electrical Corporation, 1920, unpag.
is “natural” about these natural therapies? Is our relationship with the sun instinctual? And are
these images documentary or in fact highly constructed, even manipulated, representations of Finsen explained that the red light of the spectrum was the weakest in terms of concentrated
light therapy that pass themselves off as natural, pleasurable, and liberating? Were these thera- chemical action. Red light is furthest on the spectrum from ultra-violet (UV) and violet light,
pies enjoyable or comfortable processes for the patients? In these manuals, do the texts and the highest in chemical or “actinic” as well as bactericidal action (Fig.9). Finsen then focussed on
images correlate or challenge each other? the ultra-violet end of the spectrum to treat lupus, using them, in the words of phototherapist
Charles Warrenne Allen, “with a view to destroying the germs and the impaired tissue in para-
sitic and germ diseases. At no time does the treatment assume the form of a simple stimulation
to the tissues, the action always understood to be either a cauterant of mild character or a re-
ducing agent” (1904, pp.426-427). Here UV rays were first employed by Finsen for their de-
NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL
structive action.
“In all ages there have been Sun-worshippers. It could not be otherwise. Ter- Finsen published his findings throughout the 1890s in Danish, and later these were gathered
restrial life craves for the golden rays.” (Sir John Henry Gauvain, in Rollier, and translated into English as early as 1901, in a book simply called Phototherapy; the French
1923, p.ix) version appeared in 1903, though shorter works of his had already been published in French
and German by 1899. Before-and-after photographs of lupus patients were included in all of
these publications (Fig.10). The photographs here are employed for their documentary func-
In Sir J. Henry Gauvain’s quote, included within a preface to Rollier’s 1923 British publication tion, to record the progress of the treatment and of healing, evidence of the efficacy of light
Heliotherapy, sun-therapy is described as little different from sun-worship. In doing so, Gauvain therapy.
described the highly regimented and surveyed medical processes of light therapeutics as some-
thing instinctive and thus natural. Investing in natural means and natural forces was the premise
behind heliotherapy and, at least initially, behind phototherapy. Kellogg himself referred to his
system as the “physiologic” or “natural” method, yet he warned his readers that the use of simple
Fig.10 Before and after photographs of
elements - light, air, water - was by no means a simple task for the layman: “The application of the an anonymous lupus patient, from Drs
physiologic method requires much more than simply a knowledge of the technique of baths, elec- Leredde and Pautrier, Photothérapie et
tricity, movements, etc. It especially requires a knowledge of physiology, and an intelligent grasp photobiologie: role thérapeutique et
of all the resources of modern medical science” (Kellogg, 1909, p.15). Another contributor to Rol- role biologique de la lumière. Paris:
Masson, 1903, p.209.
lier’s 1923 book, Caleb W. Saleeby, put it more bluntly: “In spite of its apparent simplicity, the
practice of heliotherapy demands great attention to detail and constant supervision” (p.vii).

13 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 10

In his 1907 edition on sun, light, and air baths, Monteuuis described the bain or cure de soleil
as a general exposure of the unclothed body to the sunlight outdoors, as Rollier would also
advocate. To perform the cure, the patient would lie in a sheltered place on a mattress, tur-
ning every few minutes. This was called the “direct bath.” It was followed by the patient being
wrapped in blankets for what was called an “indirect bath,” meant to produce perspiration
and thus the opening of the pores (Monteuuis, 1907, pp.54-55).

It was Monteuuis’s hope to popularize heliotherapy for the benefit of all citizens suffering
from chronic illness. His goal was made obvious in the modification of the title of his 1911 re-
publication: L’usage chez soi des bains d’air, de lumière et de soleil; leur valeur pratique dans
Fig.14 Untitled frontispiece of A. Rollier.
le traitement des maladies chroniques et dans l’hygiène journalière, with the emphasis on ho-
Quarante ans d’héliothérapie. Lausanne: F.
me treatment and daily hygiene for the chronically ill (“chez soi”). One could take a bain de
Rouge, Librairie de l’Université, 1944.
soleil, he said, in the bedroom, in a hotel room, or in the garden. Monteuuis’s 1911 title im-
plies that patients could take individual responsibility for their own cure, but only if armed
with the right medical knowledge.

PHOTOTHERAPY

Finsen is known as the inventor of phototherapy or artificial light therapy, and for this he won
the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1903, being the third person to win it in this category. He died
from Pick’s disease the year after. He began experimenting with natural and, soon afterwards,
artificial light from the early 1890s in order to treat lupus. In 1896 he founded the Medical
Light Institute in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was later known as the Finsen Institute and was
funded by the state, which gives some indication of how quickly his research was widely ac- Figure fourteen is a photograph of a young girl, almost nude, on the balcony of one of Rollier’s
cepted and encouraged (Kassabian, 1907, p.517). Leysin sanatoria. As a patient at his facility, the child in Rollier’s photograph would have followed
a strict medical regime throughout the day.8 Yet does the photograph suggest this? It absolutely
Finsen’s experiments with light began through an observation of its negative influence on
does not. With her giddy, playful gestures and shameless presentation of her almost naked body,
variola, also known as smallpox. He realised that, if the patient was placed in a room totally
she expresses the feeling of total bodily liberation. The extreme contrasts of light and shadow
devoid of all but red light within the first stages of smallpox, known as the stage of vesicula-
across her body and on the platform indicate she is receiving the direct impact of brilliant, unobs-
tion or blistering of the skin, the disease did not develop into the stage of suppuration (in
tructed sunshine. It is so bright that in this photograph her upright arm loses contour, dissolved by
which pus would discharge from the small blisters). By doing so the patient could heal with
the light. Equally, the whiteness of her minimal clothing contrasts with her bronzed skin, denoting
little or no scarring. To do this, he created a room where all the windows were covered by
that she is familiar with the practice and is healing well. In numerous before-and-after photo-
thick, red cloth or a dense, red glass, to filter out all but red rays – rather like a photographer’s
graphs, the contrast between light and dark is emphasized to maximum intensity (Fig.15), with
darkroom.
“before” photos often taking place in darkened interiors to contrast with the patient’s extreme
pallor and “after” photos shot outdoors or in front of white backgrounds to heighten bronzed,
healed skin. The effect is highly convincing, explaining comments by physicians about seemingly
miraculous recoveries. As Monteuuis once declared, “The regenerating action of the sun is so pro-
found that it produces…actual resurrections…” (1911, p.42).

9 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 14

 They are seemingly unmonitored, free and left to their own devices outside of the sanatorium
grounds. Happy, unfettered and liberated, such “patients” appear a far cry from the drawn figu-
re of Rollier’s systematized chart.
Games, sports, and heliotherapy are portrayed in many of Rollier’s photographs as complemen-
tary activities, enervating and pleasurable for the child. For Rollier, this was an essential part of
Fig.15 “Fillette atteinte de mal de Pott dorsal avec
the treatment:
gibbosité très prononcée. Paraplégie, atrophie de
la musculature.” “La même au bout de quinze The children, - convalescent, delicate, or simply predisposed to tuberculosis, -
mois d’héliothérapie. Guérison du mal de Pott et live there [in Leysin] in the countryside. They share their time between exercises
de la paraplégie. Correction de la gibbosité, re- of respiratory gymnastics, walks, small tasks at the farm or in the garden, and
constitution de la musculature et d’état général.” school exercises. The beginning is always careful and progressive, so that accli-
“Photographie prise vingt-cinq ans après le dé- matisation of the newcomers is consistent and smooth.6
part de Leysin. Mariée, cette ancienne malade
pratique la médecine et s’adonne à tous les In other words, once the children had sufficiently acclimated to the intense sunshine at such a
sports. Sa santé est restée excellente.” A. Rollier. high altitude, they could spend hours and hours engaging in outdoor pursuits to maximize sun-
La cure de soleil. 2nd ed. Paris: Librairie J.-B. Bail- light exposure.
lière et Fils, 1936, planche I.
At the same time that Rollier was opening his sanatoria in the Swiss mountains, an establish-
ment entitled Sylvabelle in La Croix-Val-Mer, near Saint-Tropez on the Côte d’Azur, opened in
1904 as an explicitly naturist sanatorium, under the supervision of a Dr Albert Monteuuis. Mon-
teuuis wrote extensively on heliotherapy and other natural therapies. He promoted heliothera-
py as a natural treatment for the benefit of all citizens suffering from chronic illness. 7 His book
on air, light, and sunbaths was first published in 1904, translated into English as early as 1907,
and republished in 1911. A member of the Société française d’hygiène de Paris, he first practi-
sed exclusively on the northern coast, on the beach of Malo, and was a native of Dunkerque. By
ANCIENT AND MODERN 1904, he would practice in Dunkerque in the summer and at Sylvabelle in the winter until ap-
proximately 1910, later practicing in Nice. His facility was captured in postcards showing an iso-
“With rare exception, all people worship the sun in their pantheons under
lated haven for the patient in need (Fig.8).
different names. It was especially around the basin of the Mediterranean,
cradle of all civilisations, that the cult of the sun [sun worship] took a consi-
derable development.”9 (Malgat, 1911, p.8)

Fig.8 “Sylvabelle – La Croix (Var).

This passage by Malgat was included in his historical justification of heliotherapy, tracing its ori- Maison Médicale de Régimes, Hélio-
gins back to primitive peoples and antiquity. This was a common practice of light therapists, who thérapie, Hydrothérapie, Massages.
sought to provide an ancient justification for their radical interest in sunlight. Établissement et Terrasse dominant
la Baie de Cavalaire,” postcard,
c.1912.

15 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 8

 The word cult crops up repeatedly in heliotherapeutic material and appears to have been em-
ployed by physicians to naturalise new medical conceptions of the sun occurring during the late
nineteenth century: the transition from man’s instinctive, ritualistic relationship with the sun to
a modern medical one. It was common among these physicians to establish an ancient and na-
tural heritage for their treatment, citing Hippocrates, Celsus, and Galen as the original advoca-
tes of sun baths (Rollier, 1923, p.1). Such ancient heritage, however, did not interfere with the
simultaneous belief that light therapeutics occupied the forefront of progressive medicine, es-
pecially following Finsen’s discoveries in the curative potential of light for lupus and his subse-
quent Nobel Prize (Allen, 1904, p.426). Faith in modernity’s new possibilities, in electric light, X-
rays and radiotherapy, drove many physicians to expound at length the near-miraculous pow-
ers of light therapeutics; for Dr Allen, praising “luminaries” like Finsen gave way to poetic decla-
rations:
Though exaggerated optimism should be warned against, still it seems to me the
time has arrived when we must lay aside doubts, fears, and prejudices and real-
ize that we are entering upon an entirely new era in the science of medicine,
whose horizon grows brighter the more we strive to penetrate it. Our present
efforts will be largely expended in a study of these newer agencies as applied to
Fig.6 “Arrivée d’un malade sur le solarium à l’aide de l’ascenseur,” at “Les Frê- the detection and cure of disease. Nothing need be said of the numerous work-
nes” clinic (Leysin), from A. Rollier. La cure de soleil. Paris: Baillière & fils; Lau- ers in these new spheres of discovery. Their achievements are of themselves far
sanne: C. Tarin, 1915, p.60. too luminous to require any laudatory remark, and no brilliancy of verbiage
could add to their lustre (Allen, 1904, pp.18-19).

Wittily enough, he attempts to do so anyway. Returning to the images themselves, it is perhaps

not surprising that Allen would go to such literary extremes. The transformations shown – from
open, suppurating wounds, disfiguring and unsightly manifestations of tuberculosis, or painful-
looking bone malformations to bronzed, closed skin, bodies whole, upright and healed, and
smiling faces – are, quite simply, extraordinary.

PLEASURABLE AND PAINFUL

“For beginners the sun bath should last for a quarter of an hour only, but
afterwards the bath may be prolonged for an hour or even longer, for the
patient experiences a feeling of comfort and relief all the
time.” (Monteuuis, 1907, p.55)
Fig.7 Front cover of The Sun Cure in Dr. A. Rollier’s Clinics, Leysin (Switzerland), Swiss
Alpine Heliotherapic [sic] Resort. [S.I.]: Thomas Cook and Son, c.1921

7 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 16

The photographs of children laughing and playing in the sunlight, or of happy results in “after” pic- Likewise the positions of the patients, the equipment used on them, and their exposure times dif-
tures, correlate to Monteuuis’ explanation that treatment by light produced relief, even euphoria, fered remarkably. Known as the “High Priest of modern Sun-worshippers,”5 Auguste Rollier cre-
in the patient. In other visual instances, however, patients are being treated in such a way as to ated several outdoor sanatoria in the Swiss mountains for tubercular adults and children. Rollier
suggest tremendous discomfort with the procedure: held down, encased, bound by the hands of advocated a total body treatment of natural sunlight, not simply for specific lesions on the surface
the nurse, by cloth or by leather straps (Fig.11). but for a holistic, immune-boosting regeneration of the whole body.
He illustrated his method by means of a highly artistic, anatomical drawing of a male figure (Fig.5),
sectioning areas of the body according to sunlight exposure. This was a highly systematised, pro-
Fig.16 “At this distance the lens is gressive process of exposure to sunlight, starting with the feet and always avoiding the head, for
directing rays over the area seen on
fear of sunstroke.
the patient’s chest. This represents
an application to affected portion of
the chest in tuberculosis,” from S.H.
Monell. A System of Instruction in X-
ray Methods and Medical Uses of
Light, Hot-Air, Vibration and High-
Frequency Currents: Prepared espe-
cially for the Post-Graduate Home
Study of Surgeons, General Physi-
cians, Dentists [etc.]. New York: E. R.
Pelton, 1902, p.704.

Figure sixteen is even more extreme: a photograph of a patient blind-folded (one assumes in lieu
of protective goggles), arms grasping his chair, shirtless and motionless in front of an electric light
machine that resembles a large gun more than a lamp. However, we have little indication of the
patients’ personal experiences of the process of the treatment, and they remain anonymous enti-
ties within the manuals. In other cases, models or stand-ins who are clearly not patients turn up
to demonstrate the techniques for using phototherapeutic equipment.
By the 1920s, physicians such as Kellogg began incorporating images that appear more like con- Fig.5 Exposure chart from A. Rollier. La cure de soleil. 2nd ed. Paris: Librairie J.-B.
temporaneous advertisements. Unlike the photographs of patients being treated by phototherapy Baillière et Fils, 1936, p.39.
for lupus, in figure seventeen we are presented with a fresh-faced, smiling model, coiffed in the
latest 1920s crop. The impression is that this phototherapeutic treatment is neither uncomfort-
This chart indicates that Rollier and his staff monitored his patients intensely. Yet in photographs
able nor distressing, but in fact an enjoyable process. The ambiguity of her surroundings, resem-
accompanying his various publications, patients are shown receiving sun treatment in surprisingly
bling a photographer’s studio, is heightened by the impossibilities of the scene: the rays of the
different circumstances: in figure six, a child is strapped to a bed, wearing only a loincloth for cov-
lamp (which itself appears hand-drawn) shine on her chest and yet continue undisturbed beyond
erage in the alpine air. His nurses wheel him onto a terrace for treatment; in figure seven, children
her. And note her poise, the artificiality of her body position, even her heels. It is clear this is no
are skiing in the same loincloths, exposing their bodies while engaging in physical activity on the
patient.
mountain slopes.

17 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 6

METHODS It is, all in all, an odd thing, made even more odd by its context: it is from a book that is specifi-
cally addressed to students and practitioners of phototherapy, therefore not for the lay public
Just as there were numerous practitioners, there were numerous heliotherapeutic modes of
or even necessarily for the patient. In images of the arc light on the model’s chest, we are
application. Kellogg’s early image of an isolated patient undergoing an indoor sunbath (Fig.2) –
given a privileged, eroticised view of female flesh, clad in Art Deco attire and frilly undergar-
a general application to the entire body, yet through glass panes – is quite different from his
ments. Her hairstyle and clothing are in keeping with the date of this second edition (1927).
later photographs of men lounging outdoors on towels within the grounds of his Michigan sana-
The extreme artifice of the image – of her pose, of her status as patient, of her supposed us-
torium, Battle Creek (Fig.3).
age of the device, and of the photograph’s manipulation itself – is made all the more resonant
when viewed side-by-side with the image from Kellogg’s original, first edition of the manual of
1910 (Fig.18). Paired together, the effect is one of freedom as opposed to constraint, enjoy-
ment to indifference, pleasure to discomfort.

Fig.3 Untitled photograph of men

sun-bathing, from J.H. Kellogg.
The Battle Creek Sanitarium Sys-
tem: History, Organization, Meth- Fig.17 “Arc Light to the Chest,”
ods. Battle Creek, Michigan: [S.I.], photomontage [?], from J.H. Kel-
1909, p.148. logg. Light Therapeutics: A Practical
Manual of Phototherapy for the
Student and the Practitioner. Battle
Creek, 1927 [2nd edition], opp.
p.108.

In Dr A. Aimes’ publication of 1914, La pratique de l’héliothérapie, we are presented with a hap-

hazard scene of children, unclothed but for a white loin cloth and protective hat, sitting before
a makeshift solarium, and by the caption the author infers how inexpensive the sun-cure can be
made available to all (Fig.4).

Fig.18 “Arc Light to the Chest,”

photograph from J.H. Kellogg.
Fig.4 “Solarium installé à peu de frais au moyen Light Therapeutics: A Practical
d’abris de toile,” from A. Aimes. La pratique de Manual of Phototherapy for the
l’héliothérapie, 2nd ed. Paris: A. Maloine et Fils, Student and the Practitioner.
1914, unpag. Battle Creek, 1910 [1st edition],
opp. p.94.

5 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 18

CONCLUSIONS: Furthermore, physicians rapidly adopted the emerging vocabulary of germ theory to promote
sunlight as naturally bactericidal: “The blood absorbs a great amount of violet rays, it is true,
As late as 2001, in his book Sultry Climates: Sex and Travel since the Grand Tour, Ian Little-
but the chimera that is light is not entirely exhausted by its contact, and its invigorating and
wood stated:
bactericidal properties have a deeper zone of penetration.”4 Clearly heliotherapists and photo-
Like the fashion for visiting spa towns and, later, seaside resorts, sunbathing therapists were actively experimenting with the latest scientific and medical discoveries. Sun-
called medical evidence in its support [....] But among tourists, considerations tanning, in this context, was no trivial fashion trend.
of health and virtue were secondary. As a reason for doing what is pleasurable,
This, of course, is also the period during which Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen was credited with the
medical arguments, like moral ones, have always been suspect [....] Medical
official and published study of x-rays, in 1895, for which he won the first Nobel Prize in Physics
opinion played its part in promoting sun-worship, but the new fashion owed
(though he was among many scientists conducting experiments on rays in the 1890s). Soon af-
more to an instinctive recognition of the sun as a source of well-being (pp.197-
terwards Marie Curie discovered polonium and radium, radioactive substances, and these
198).
greatly enhanced the development of radiotherapy. For her research in physics (1903) and
Littlewood’s account of the history of sun therapy positions medical opinion as a convenient chemistry (1911), she was awarded two Nobel Prizes. This was therefore a fertile period in the
afterthought or a conspiratorial falsity used to justify “instinct.” Unfortunately, this reading of field of light physics and light therapeutics, sanctioned by the Nobel foundation and interna-
history is not just misinformed but lazy. The wealth of medical evidence in the Osler Library tionally recognized.
contradicts popular accounts of the history of light therapies. So too does the visual material
complicate and enrich that history, an agent actively participating in the formation of histori-
cal perspectives. In a diagram by Dr Théo Nogier, for instance, the production, transmission
and utilisation of the sun’s rays are visualised in a surprisingly artistic way (Fig.19). One might
well ask why should this be necessarily depicted in such a manner? What kinds of aesthetic
choices have been made by this physician to convey the sun’s action on plant and animal life?
Like Kellogg’s model-patients and photomontages, aesthetic preoccupations directed visuali-
zations of the treatments, their effects and their efficacy.

Fig.19 “Schéma représentant la production, la

transmission et l’utilisation des rayons émis par le
Soleil,” from T. Nogier. Les bases scientifiques de
la thérapeutique par la lumière (Rayons visibles et
rayons invisibles). Lyon: L’Avenir médical, 1913,
p.13.
Fig.2 “Indoor Sun-Bath,” from J.H. Kellogg, “Heliotherapy,” in S.S. Cohen, ed.
A System of Physiologic Therapeutics. Vol. 9. London: Rebman, 1902, p.215.

19 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 4

 mythical ozone-charged air. Until the 1920s, it was generally believed that the Guided by such visual and textual material, light therapeutics emerges as simultaneously
rays of the sun were injurious and debilitating (Cormack, 1998, p.115). scientifically advanced and, for all intents and purposes, magically healing. Indeed, Kellogg
used these exact descriptions in his 1910 Light Therapeutics:
Note the words used by Cormack: fashion, cult, mythical. And here, in Mary Blume’s 1992 his-
tory of the Côte d’Azur, sun tanning is explained as popularized during the 1920s by rich fash- Under the magic influence of these miracle-working rays, the elements found
ionistas: in earth, air and water are organized into molecular groups, some comprising
thousands of atoms, the breaking up of which, as the result of vital activity,
By the late ’20s the sunbathing habit was widespread *....+ The first sunbathers
liberates the light energy employed in holding together these organic unities,
were probably anonymous Scandinavians or Germans: it took names to make a
permitting the energy thus set free to manifest itself in muscular and mental
habit chic. Already in 1919 the French tennis champion Suzanne Lenglen had re-
effort, and various other forms of vital work (pp.23-24).
fused to wear a corset or a hat .... Her arms were bare, except when covered by
the white ermine coat she warmed up in, and her face deeply tanned. Then, in Note not only his use of the words magic and miracle-working, but the metaphor of power
1923, Coco Chanel descended the gangway of the Duke of Westminster’s yacht, and liberation to describe the process of light upon life. The photographs and other illustra-
brown as a cabin boy (1992, p.74). tions in light therapy manuals provide that conviction: the “after” picture convinces us of the
efficacy of the treatment, of its magic. But are the physical processes at work here to create
In both narratives, sun tanning is historically positioned as novel, fashionable and devoid of any
that effect – that magic – those of the light treatment or the photographic process?
real medical basis. Primary medical texts of the late 1890s and early 1900s suggest otherwise.
John Harvey Kellogg, in his 1910 book Light Therapeutics, declared that he had been using sun- The images exhibited here depict a rich and complex view of the intertwined histories of he-
baths in Michigan since 1876 (p.10). Indeed there is a wealth of primary texts and images that liotherapy and phototherapy. Yet approaching them, the historian requires constant critical
suggest a much earlier beginning to the history of the bain de soleil, many of which are pre- awareness that such material is at once document and representation.
sented here from the Osler’s collection. This history is also intertwined with late nineteenth-
century developments in laboratory medicine, the discovery of germ theory, and experiments
in light physics.
- Dr Tania Anne Woloshyn
Physicians were aware that scientists such as Arthur Downes, Thomas Blunt, Louis Pasteur, and
Robert Koch had published studies on the antibacterial properties of light. Koch had demon-
strated that ultra-violet rays destroyed bacteria, most importantly the tuberculosis bacillus. The I wish to express my deepest thanks to the Osler Library for the History of Medicine and its
experiments of the destructive action of light on bacteria by Downes and Blunt of 1877 are ref- excellent staff, especially Christopher Lyons, Pamela Miller, Lily Szczygiel and Diane Philip,
erenced frequently in heliotherapeutic handbooks, irrefutable proof of the efficacy of sunlight without whom this exhibition would be impossible. I would also like to thank Dr. Shena Ro-
in combating tuberculosis. In a French publication of 1897, Hygiène populaire et moniteur de la senblatt Sourkes and Dr. Theodore Sourkes for generously lending their time, their help, and
santé, Kellogg asserted that the sun was “...the most powerful of all natural antiseptics; no mor- their invaluable memories. This exhibition and the research revolving around it forms a major
bid germ can resist the direct rays of the sun, cholera, consumption [tuberculosis], diphtheria, part of a post-doctoral research project, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Re-
scarlet fever and typhoid fever, and other diseases.”2 If sunlight could kill bacteria spread onto search Council of Canada and based in the department of Art History & Communication Stu-
a microscope’s glass slide, it could kill bacteria living in the blood and tissues of the tubercular dies at McGill University.
patient. Penetrating the epidermal layers, the sun’s luminous rays could activate the body’s vi-
tal forces, initiating a reaction that would spread throughout it entirely. Physicians described
sunlight as a source that activated nutrition, excited the tissues, increased circulation of the
blood, and improved respiration.3 In this way it was understood as a natural regenerative agent.

3 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 20

Endnotes means. Therefore while the exhibition is divided into two halves, heliotherapy (the two left
1
“De même qu’il est le principe de toutes vie, le soleil est la source de toute guérison. C’est le Soleil, et unique-
cases) and phototherapy (the two right cases), significant cross-over occurred between the two
ment le Soleil, que les malades viennent chercher pendant l’hiver sur notre littoral. Il est le Grand Médecin, Doc- – in their historical developments, in their visual cultures, in their methods, and in the shared
teur de la Faculté du Ciel, auquel ceux qui souffrent viennent demander la guérison de leurs maux.” J. Orgeas, scientific beliefs driving them as therapies.
L’hiver à Cannes. Guide descriptif, historique, scientifique, médical et pratique (Cannes: Figère et Guiglion, 1889),
p.466. Significantly, these physicians asserted the ancient, quasi-magical origins of light therapeutics at
2
“...le plus puissant de tous les désinfectants naturels; il n’est pas de germe morbide qui résiste aux rayons directs
du soleil, choléra, consomption, diphtérie, fièvres scarlatine et typhoïde, et autres maladies.” J.H. Kellogg, Hygiè-
the same time as they advocated it as a “modern” therapeutic of sound scientific rationale. So
ne populaire et moniteur de la santé (Bâle: Librairie Polyglotte, 1897), p.108. too did they posit it as a welcome, pleasurable and comfortable experience while simultane-
3
“La lumière, en même temps qu’elle tue les germes infectieux, dessèche la plaie, excite la circulation des tissus, ously including photographs of patients strapped down, exposed to the sun almost nude in win-
augmente l’hémoglobine, favorise les échanges endosmotiques, et par suite la formation des cellules normales.”
E. Onimus, L’hiver dans les Alpes-Maritimes et dans la Principauté de Monaco; climatologie et hygiène (Paris: G. ter, or subjected to gun-like electric machines. Themes of natural and artificial, ancient and
Masson, 1894), p.294. modern, and pleasurable and painful within the history and visual culture of light therapeutics
4
“Le sang absorbe, il est vrai, une grande partie des rayons violets, mais le chimisme de la lumière n’est pas en-
illuminate this exhibition of rare illustrated texts and objects from the Osler Library collection. It
tièrement épuisé à son contact, et ses propriétés stimulantes et bactéricides ont une zone de pénétration plus
étendue.” Dr Gilli, “La cure solaire pratique en phtisiothérapie,” 1er Congrès français de climatothérapie et d’hy- also considers how heliotherapeutic and phototherapeutic practices were disseminated and
giène urbaine, tenu à Nice du 4 au 9 Avril 1904 (Monaco: Imprimerie de Monaco *Nice: Imprimerie de l’Eclaireur+, popularized by that visual culture.
1904, pp.455-62), p.456.
5
Sir J.H. Gauvain, “Foreword,” in A. Rollier, Heliotherapy (London: Oxford Medical Publications; Henry Frowde and The historical relationship between sunlight and health in modern Western cultures has only
Hodder & Stoughton, 1923), p.xi.
6 begun to be explored, and yet is fundamental to contextualizing current debates in the medical
“Les enfants, - convalescents, délicats, ou simplement prédisposés à la tuberculose, - vivent là en pleine cam-
pagne. Ils partagent leur temps entre les exercices de gymnastique respiratoire, les promenades, les petits and popular press on the benefits and risks of light exposure, particularly regarding skin can-
travaux agricoles ou de jardinage et les exercices scolaires. Les débuts sont toujours prudents et progressifs, afin cers. This research is also valuable at a time of increasing public concern over the impact of cli-
que l’acclimatement des nouveaux venus s’effectue régulièrement et sans à-coups.” A. Rollier, L’école au soleil
(Paris: Baillière et Fils; Lausanne: Constant Tarin, 1915), p.15. mate change. You, the viewer and visitor, are especially invited to add your comments and
7
“Le plus utile que je puisse remplir est, à mon avis, de faire oeuvre de vulgarisation, de travailler à mettre entre thoughts, even your own personal experiences of the sunshine, in the Visitors’ Book.
les mains de tous, un moyen aussi simple que puissant, pour les gens du monde et le peuple de fortifier la santé,
pour les praticiens de traiter les maladies chroniques.” A. Monteuuis, L’usage chez soi des bains d’air, de lumière
et de soleil; leur valeur pratique dans le traitement des maladies chroniques et dans l’hygiène journalière (Paris: A.
Maloine, 1911), p.8. HELIOTHERAPY
8
In the same book (1944), he described the daily schedule of the children at his facilities: “L’horaire journalier de
l’École au Soleil est le suivant: “The deep study of the sun’s rays which has been made by physicists
7 h. Réveil, bains, toilette.
7 h. 30 Déjeuner (laitages ou cacao, pain, beurre et fruits). within the last few years, has thrown a great flood of light upon this sub-
8 h. 10 École au grand air et au soleil (classes fixes et mobiles) exercices de gymnastique respiratoire et rythmi- ject which is of precious value to clinicians. A very important practical fact
que. En cas de mauvais temps, les leçons se donnent sur les terrasses couvertes ou dans les salles d’étude.
is the great variability of the intensity of the sunlight and especially of ul-
10-11 h. Exercices physiques, jeux, sports d’été ou d’hiver.
11-12 h. Repos et cure d’air. tra-violet rays, an element of highest interest from a therapeutic stand-
12 h. Lunch (potage, céréales, légumes, entremets – très peu de viande – fruits). point” (Kellogg, 1910, p.15).
13-15 h. Repos et silence au grand air, en position étendue, ventrale ou dorsale.
15 h. Collation (lait ou chocolat). Recently, Simon Carter has devoted some attention to heliotherapy in his 2007 book, Rise and
15 h. 30 Promenades, excursions, sports, jeux ou gymnastique.
17 h. Travaux scolaires. Shine: Sunlight, Technology and Health; his focus is, however, primarily British and from the
18 h. 15 Dîner (comme à midi mais sans viande). 1920s onwards. Indeed, popular history books tell us that the act of exposing one’s body to the
19 h. 30 – 20 h. 30 Gymnastique respiratoire, toilette, coucher.” A. Rollier, Quarante ans d’héliothérapie
sun’s rays dates only to the 1920s, as a “tourist fad” for the purposes of beautification:
(Lausanne: F. Rouge & Cie, 1944), p.146.
9
“A de rares exceptions près, tous les peuples admirent dans leurs panthéons le soleil sous des noms différents. The craze for hot sun and blue skies is hardly fifty years old, a fashion originally
Ce fut plus spécialement autour du bassin de la Méditerranée, berceau de toutes les civilisations, que le culte du
soleil prit un développement considérable.” J. Malgat, La cure solaire de la tuberculose pulmonaire chronique created by German naturists who wished to expose their bodies in comfort. Sun-
(Paris: Librairie J.-B. Baillière et Fils, 1911), p.8. bathing became a cult which succeeded the virtues of drinking sea water, the
doubtful benefits of being dipped in a very cold sea and the merits of breathing

21 | TANIA WOLOSHYN OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 2

INTRODUCTION Works Cited

He may resemble some overblown bourgeois Humpty Dumpty, but in J.M. Andress and W.A. Aimes, A. La pratique de l’héliothérapie, 2nd ed. Paris: A. Maloine et Fils, 1914.
Evans’ 1925 children’s hygiene handbook, Success and Health, “Doctor Sun” (Fig.1) is promi-
Allen, Charles Warrenne. Radiotherapy and Phototherapy, including Radium and High-Frequency Currents,
nently promoted as the wise choice of a family physician with very real sincerity. With his smil-
their Medical and Surgical Applications in Diagnosis and Treatment. For Students and Practitioners.
ing face, radiating luminous rays, and open gesture, he welcomes the viewer to his domain, New York and Philadelphia: Lea Brothers & Co., 1904.
where in the background children dance and play. Here health and happiness are shown as one
and the same. Andress, J. Mace and W.A. Evans. Success and Health. Canadian Hygiene Series. Toronto: Ginn and Company,
1925.
Nor is this a unique representation of the sun as doctor. A Cannes physician, Dr J. Orgeas, for
example stated as early as 1889: Blume, Mary. Côte d’Azur: Inventing the French Riviera. London: Thames and Hudson, 1992.

Just as the sun is the principal of all life, so it is the source of all healing. It is the Carter, Simon. Rise and Shine: Sunlight, Technology and Health. Oxford and New York: Berg, 2007.
Sun, and uniquely the Sun, that sick people seek in winter on our coast. It is the
Great Doctor, Doctor of the Faculty of the Sky, to whom the suffering come to Chesney, W.D. Infra Red Rays and The Lower Frequencies of the Luminous Spectrum in Therapeutics.
demand a cure for their ills. 1 Educational Series no.4. Chicago: McIntosh Electrical Corporation, 1920.

It might seem natural, even obvious, to associate sunny days with play, pleasure, and well-
Cormack, Bill. A History of Holidays, 1812-1990. Volume 4 of “The History of Tourism: Thomas Cook and the
being. But the connection between sunshine and health has been historically less a matter of Origins of Leisure Travel.” London: Routledge and Thomas Cook Archives, 1998.
instinct than a deeply naturalised therapeutic practice, and one especially dating to the turn of
the twentieth century. This is the subject of the exhibition, “Our Friend, the Sun: Images of Gilli, Dr. “La cure solaire pratique en phtisiothérapie,” 1er Congrès français de climatothérapie et d’hygiène
Light Therapeutics from the Osler Library Collection, c.1901-1944” (the Osler Library of the urbaine, tenu à Nice du 4 au 9 Avril 1904. Nice et Monaco: [S.I.], 1904, pp.455-62.

History of Medicine, McGill University, January-June 2011).

Kassabian, Mihran Krikor. Röntgen Rays and Electro-Therapeutics, with Chapters on Radium and
The development of light therapeutics is a little-explored dimension in the history of medicine. Phototherapy. Philadelphia and London: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1907.
The following exhibition presents an international visual culture of light therapies during the
Kellogg, John Harvey. Hygiène populaire et moniteur de la santé. Bâle: Librairie Polyglotte, 1897.
early twentieth century, considering both natural light – cure by sunlight or heliotherapy – and
artificial light – cure by electrically manufactured light or phototherapy. Heliotherapy, an an- Kellogg, John Harvey. “Heliotherapy,” in Solomon Solis Cohen, ed. A System of Physiologic Therapeutics: A
cient practice of total bodily exposure to sunlight, and phototherapy, pioneered by Niels Ryberg Practical Exposition of the Methods, Other than Drug-Giving, Useful in the Prevention of Disease and in
Finsen in the 1890s, were considered to be revolutionary therapies by c.1900 for sufferers of the Treatment of the Sick. Volume 9: Hydrotherapy, Thermotherapy, Heliotherapy, and Phototherapy.
pulmonary tuberculosis, smallpox, and lupus, as well as chronic conditions such as arthritis. London: Rebman, 1902.

The exhibition features in particular the work of four physicians: John Harvey Kellogg (1852- Kellogg, John Harvey. The Battle Creek Sanitarium System: History, Organization, Methods. Battle Creek,
1943); Auguste Rollier (1874-1954); Albert Monteuuis (fl.1900-1914); and Niels Ryberg Finsen Michigan: [S.I.], 1909.
(1860-1904). American, Swiss, French, and Danish, respectively, these four physicians knew of
Kellogg, John Harvey. Light Therapeutics: A Practical Manual of Phototherapy for the Student and the
each other’s work and, in some cases, visited each other’s facilities, indicating that light thera-
Practitioner. Battle Creek, Michigan: The Good Health Publishing Company, 1910.
peutics was an international field. Kellogg and Finsen also individually experimented with both
heliotherapy and phototherapy, evidence that the two were far from antithetical treatments or Kellogg, John Harvey. Light Therapeutics: A Practical Manual of Phototherapy for the Student and the
chronologically separated. Indeed, while Finsen may have begun experimenting with natural Practitioner. 2nd edition. Battle Creek, Michigan: The Modern Medicine Publishing Company, 1927.
light in the outdoors initially during the 1890s (soon abandoning this entirely for artificial elec-
Leredde and Pautrier, Drs. Photothérapie et photobiologie: role thérapeutique et role biologique de la lumière.
tric light), Kellogg would use both simultaneously, and Rollier continued to utilise natural light
Paris: Masson, 1903.
from the turn of the century to the Second World War, having never converted to artificial
COVER: Fig.1 “Wise people have this gentleman for their family doctor,” from J. Mace
1 | TANIA WOLOSHYN Andress and W.A. Evans. Success and Health. Canadian Hygiene Series. Toronto: Ginn
OUR FRIEND THE SUN | 22
and Company, 1925, p.117.
Littlewood, Ian. Sultry Climates: Sex and Travel since the Grand Tour. London: John Murray, 2001.

Malgat, J. La cure solaire de la tuberculose pulmonaire chronique. Paris: Librairie J.-B. Baillière et Fils, 1911.

Monell, Samuel Howard. A System of Instruction in X-ray Methods and Medical Uses of Light, Hot-Air,
Our Friend, the Sun:
Vibration and High-Frequency Currents: Prepared especially for the Post-Graduate Home Study of Sur-
geons, General Physicians, Dentists [etc.]. New York: E. R. Pelton, 1902. Images of Light Therapeutics
Monteuuis, Albert. Air, Light and Sun Baths in the Treatment of Chronic Complaints. Translated by Fred from the
Rothwell. London: John Bale, Sons & Danielsson, 1907.

Monteuuis, Albert. L’usage chez soi des bains d’air, de lumière et de soleil; leur valeur pratique dans le
traitement des maladies chroniques et dans l’hygiène journalière. Paris: A. Maloine, 1911.
Osler Library Collection,
Nogier, Théo. Les bases scientifiques de la thérapeutique par la lumière (Rayons visibles et rayons invisibles).
c.1901-1944
Lyon: L’Avenir médical, 1913.

Onimus, Ernest. L’hiver dans les Alpes-Maritimes et dans la Principauté de Monaco; climatologie et hygiène.
Paris: G. Masson, 1894.

Orgeas, J. L’hiver à Cannes. Guide descriptif, historique, scientifique, médical et pratique. Cannes: Figère et
Guiglion, 1889.

Rollier, Auguste. La cure de soleil. Paris: Baillière & fils; Lausanne; Constant Tarin, 1915.

Rollier, Auguste. L’école au soleil. Paris: Baillière et Fils; Lausanne: Constant Tarin, 1915.

The Sun Cure in Dr. A. Rollier’s Clinics, Leysin (Switzerland), Swiss Alpine Heliotherapic *sic+ Resort. [S.I.]:
Thomas Cook and Son, c.1921.

Rollier, Auguste [With the collaboration of A. Rosselet, H.J. Schmid, E. Amstad, and with forewords by Sir
John Henry Gauvain and Caleb Williams Saleeby]. Heliotherapy. London: Oxford Medical Publications;
Henry Frowde and Hodder & Stoughton, 1923.

Rollier, Auguste. La Cure de Soleil. 2nd ed. Paris: Librairie J.-B. Baillière et Fils, 1936.
Dr. Tania Anne Woloshyn, Curator
Department of Art History & Communication Studies,
Rollier, Auguste. Quarante Ans d’Héliothérapie. Lausanne: F. Rouge & Cie, 1944. McGill University

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