Awarded the Silver Medal for Military Valour (Italian)

Obituary
ALBERT EIDINOW, M B., B.S. Dr. Albert Eidinow worked voluntarily in the department of applied physiology at the Medical Research Institute and found evidence that exposure of the skin to ultra-violet rays put up the resistance to staphylococcal infection. At the St. John Clinic and Institute of Physical Medicine he was in charge of the light department and of the pathological laboratory. He was inventive and designed a " daylight" lamp consisting of a long quartz tube giving weak ultra-violet rays, and a number of incandescent lamps hung on each side of this. This lamp gave as near an equivalent to natural sunlight as possible. Flowers and dyes appeared of the same tint under it as under daylight. Such a lamp had its use then in a picture gallery or a milliner's shop. An hour's exposure of the nude body to this lamp gave the same result as a similar exposure to midday summer sun on the seashore. He found this lamp useful in the treatment of psoriasis and cases of lupus in which the local lesion was treated by intense radiation with the Kromayer lamp. He also invented a small ultra-violet lamp which could be introduced into the mouth and used for affections of this and the throat. Members of the theatrical profession gained benefit from this lamp. The general tonic influence of exposure of the skin to ultra-violet rays depended on the production of a slight degree of sunburn erythema followed by desquamation. To keep the skin sensitive he divided the body into four regions, and giving two treatments a week allowed 14 days to elapse before any one area received another exposure. This saved much time in treatment, for otherwise the exposures would have to become longer and longer owing to thickening of the horny layer and pigmentation. For cases of acute neuritis and fibrositis, swollen painful joints, and traumatic effusions he used what seems to be an ideal method of counter-irritation. Over an area of skin eight inches square above the painful part he gave an intensive dose of ultra-violet rays—enough to produce strong sunburn—and then covered the area with elastoplast bandage. The patient was told on no account to touch this for a fortnight. Infra-red treatment could be given through the bandage. For infra-red treatment he used large incandescent lamps focused by a concave metal mirror, recognizing that the red and shortest infra-red rays penetrate the skin deepest. The longer infra¬red rays, from sources of dark heat, only warm the surface, whence the heat is conducted in, short-wave diathermy being the only means of securing deep heating. He carried out very successfully the treatment of chronic ulcers of the leg. using ultra-violet rays to clean them and elastoplast bandage, telling the patients to walk about, and also when necessary sealing up enlarged veins. Scores of patients were thereby healed of their long-lasting ulcers.
In the pathological laboratory with a skilled assistant he carried out blood examinations, etc., and made autogenous vaccines. These were made not by heating culture fluids but by exposing them in a quartz flask, which was kept rotating between a pair of mercury vapour lamps, whereby a thin layer was exposed to the lethal effect of the rays. He thought this method, which has been used in the U.S.A., gave a better vaccine. Eidinow took an active part in the postgraduate courses given at the St. John Clinic, and was highly appreciated by patients and students. His contribution to rheumatic diseases will be found in the book published by .E. Arndel under that title. He wrote many papers for scientific journals.
Leonard Hill.