Motography (Apr-Dec 1911)

166 MOTOGRAPHY Vol. VI, No. 4. A Corner of the Joining Room. was packed with members and their friends, all eager to witness the introduction of this novel method of instruction. The subject covered in the pictures and lecture was ''The Gait, Station, Tremors and Other Symptoms of Various Forms of Nervous Diseases." The effect on the audience of the views shown was remarkable, murmurs of astonishment could be heard above the voice of the lecturer when some extraordinary view of the patients was depicted and the most minute forms of their afflictions were explained by Professor Weisenburg. It is difficult to estimate truly the advance this makes in the teaching of medicine. In many respects teaching by films, rather than patients, is of advantage for they are constantly at command and can be shown at any time, and moreover, it is psychologically interesting that the observer will pay far more attention to a motion picture than to an individual because its novelty makes a far greater impression on his mind and compels his attention. Scientifically it is also interesting, for no matter how well one observes a patient in life, there are always certain things which can be observed better by photograph. Moreover, it is important from the standpoint of medical history, for not only is it possible to record patients and their diseases, but it will be possible to compare the symptoms, for it is well known that the latter change in the course of evolution and the same disease may not give the same group of symptoms in the course of years. Among the patients that were photographed were cases of locomotor ataxia, paralysis of one side of the body resulting from a hemorrhage in the brain, different forms of spinal cord disease, hysteria and different tremors and involuntary movements of the body. Among the most interesting is a patient who has involuntary movements of the tongue, in which this organ is protruded far beyond the lips in the most grotesque manner. Again, among the cases of hysteria is a patient who, while lying quietly, has no weakness of his limbs, and yet when he gets on his feet and attempts to walk, power to do so becomes increasingly difficult until finally he sinks to the floor totally helpless. Another patient, also suffering from a form of functional disease, has various grotesque movements of his arms, legs, face and body, some of which are dancing, shuffling, springing all of them more or less bizarre. In a patient with paralysis of one side of the body the weakness in the limbs is beautifully shown, with the dragging, halting gait. In the patient who has locomotor ataxia the difficulty in walking is clearly evident. Here, the patient could not walk without aid and for this purpose a rope was stretched across the stage and the ataxic walks while grasping this rope, and it is clearly evident that only for this he would totter and fall. Towards the latter end of the photograph he is shown standing alone with his feet wide apart, swaying in the most uncertain manner, and as he shuts his eyes he falls to the floor, showing in the most wonderful manner the ataxia which is one of the prominent symptoms of the disease. In another patient, who suffered from inflammation of all of the nerves of the body, there is depicted a so-called "steppage" gait. This patient has toe drop and cannot move his toes and because of this he is compelled, when walking, to lift his knees high from the ground, much like a stalking horse, the gait, because of this, being called "steppage." The lecture was followed by a thunderous burst of applause and this was the more remarkable, considering the fact that the audience was not composed of mere students, but of grave and sedate graduates, many of whom occupy prominent position as members of the faculty of the college. Prof. J. M. Anders, when called upon, stated that, in his opinion, the innovation marked another epoch in the rapid advances being made by the medical profession and its aid, the moving picture film. A recent feat performed by the Lubin Company was the taking of a series of flood pictures at Austin, Pa. As soon as the earliest reports of the disaster came over the telegraph wires the company had a camera man on the way to the devastated region, and he got there Sunday morning. He could make no negative that day because of adverse weather conditions ; but the next two days proved excellent, and by Tuesday night he had material enough to make 640 feet of splendid positive films. This negative was in the Lubin plant at Philadelphia by nine o'clock Wednesday morning. By Wednesday night completed prints of the flood picture had been sent to all the exchanges and the European agents had received cable messages regarding the film. By Thursday night orders had been filled for 75 copies. A View of the Shipping Room.