Newspapers / InterCom (Durham, N.C.) / Aug. 25, 1978, edition 1 / Page 2
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ON CAMERA—Visitors in the hospital's main lobby were a little surprised one day last week when a TV camera crew and Cathy Carlson of "Curious Kaleidoscope" arrived and started filming. They were doing a segment on the Host Home Program, a new project established to find homes in which patients' family members may stay for up to two weeks. Here, Susan Lentz, secretary in the hospital chaplain's office, plays the role of the wife of a Duke patient as she seeks help from Host Home volunteer Jean Wilson. Curious Kaleidoscope is seen on WTVD (channel 11). The Host Home segment will be shown sometime in September. (Photo fcy Parker Herring} I AMA investigates, reports on medical hoaxes Do you believe that music will cure cancer, that copper bracelets can ease arthritis pain, that colored lights will remedy all physical ailments? Probably not. But these are just a few of the fantastic hoaxes that have been perpetrated at the expense of people who are suffering from disease. For more than 70 years the American Medical Association's Department of Investigation has been reporting on useless medical gadgets. The swindles fall into several basic catagories. 1. Devices which are claimed to diagnose or cure ailments—Many incredible gadgets have been seized and condemned by the Food and Drug Administration. One was a large box which was supposed to help failing hearts, enlarged prostate glands, diabetes and asthma. It was useless. One instrument was a radio-type apparatus which sent a low-frequency, low-voitage current into the body. It was offered for the diagnosis and treatment of brain diseases and diseases of the spinal cord, lungs, heart, and eyes. An item peddled by quacks supposedly contained a special type of water which produced a "Z-ray"—a force unknown to science. Thousands of people paid a fortune for this useless article before investigators found that it contained just plain tap water, and its promoters were imprison ed. 2. Foods, liquids and pills—These hoaxes descend from the Old West medicine shows with their snake oils and magic elixers. One man who claimed to have psychic powers recommended "bedbug juice" for dropsy, almonds to prevent cancer and a peanut oil massage to forestall arthritis. 3. "Treatment Centers"—Most health spas and resorts are legitimate, worth while establishments, but a few take advantage of the ailing public by promising impossible "cures" and results. 'Sorry to be late, my pyramid must be a little slow' The world's oldest timepiece is the earth itself, dividing a period of time into two parts: light and darkness. Even today, earth, spinning through space, is the master clock by which all man-made clocks are set. Marked passage of time at night and on cloudy days most likely was achieved by the caveman by use of a burning rope of vines, knotted at regular intervals. The great Pyramids of Egypt, by casting their shadows on the sands, denoted the passage of time 6,000 years ago. Star time The ancient Babylonians devised a timekeeping system by the stars, dividing their day into 12 equal parts, each p>eriod marked by a cluster of stars in which they saw imaginary forms of local deities. But the sundial remained for many years the outstanding timepiece in the Holy Lands and is mentioned several times in the Bible. First clock In 760 A.D., history mentions a "clock" for the first time. It was given to the King of France by Pope Paul 1. However, it was Intercom is published weekly by the Office of Public Relations, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3354, Durham, N.C. 27710. Joe Sigler Director John Becton Editor Primary contributors: William Erwin, Comprehensive Cancer Center medical writer; Ina Fried, staff writer; Parker Herring, public relations assistant; Edith Roberts, staff writer; David Williamson, medical writer. Circulation: Ann Kittrell. % 3reitJ6»- not until the latter part of the 15th century that our present day timepiece was devised. Peter Henlein, a Nuremberg locksmith, was the first to construct a spring driven clock. It appeared in Nuremberg about 12 years before Columbus set out on his famous voyage. Made almost entirely of iron, these clocks were so heavy they necessitated a "bearer," who consulted the dial and spoke the time when asked by his master. Watches for wealthy By 1635, pocket-size watches were being made, although their distribution was only among the wealthier classes. The minute hand gave watches a new and practical importance. Physicians were quick to see its value. Dr. Robert Hooke of England invented the balance spring in 1685, from which time watches improved rapidly in quality. In America, watchmaking gained a foothold in 1809 when Luther Goddard opened a factory in Shrewsbury, Mass. Americans can well be proud of the ancestry behind the American watch: Robert Fulton, Paul ReVere, Elias Howe, Eli Whitney, Peter Cooper and Henry Ford are among those who contributed to its progress and perfection. I
InterCom (Durham, N.C.)
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Aug. 25, 1978, edition 1
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