The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-10-14
ADVANCE IN SURGERY.
The x Rays Are Working Revolution In
Medicine.

The K Rays Are Working Revolution In
Medicine.
The development Of the new Roent-
gen photography in medicine ard sur
gerry continues at an almost incredible
rate. Many Of the latest reports from
Europe read like cable canards, but the
corroborative details and confrmatory
mass of particulars are enough to con-
vince the most skepticaL The greatest
interest centers now in the hospital or
laboratory, devoted exclusively to cases
in which the K rays are used, which
has been established in Berlin by Pro-
fessor Buka of the Berlin Polytechnic
um. Professor Buka himself is scien-
tifc expert who is peculiarly fitted to
undertake this enterprise, since it was
he who discovered that all objects pene-
trable by the K rays become transparent
to the human eye by the aid Of a
Crooke's tube ard a screen smeared
with barium cyanide.
An important new phase of Roentgen
photography is also reported from Mu-
mich. At the international psychologist
congress now being held there an appa-
ratus of special design was used which
enabled the spectators to observe clearly
the action of the diaphragm and heart
of a subject. Just as photography has
succeeded in reproducing life motion by
means of the kinetoscope, vitascope and
cinemetograph, so the hitherto invisible
action of the internal organs may here
after be observed. Not only that, but
by the present process these Roentgen
ray photographs might be taken fast
enough to insure their reproduction on
a screen. The children of the next gen.
Grafton may thus study anatomy in the
most realistic fashion. AS Professor
Buka himself has been quoted as declar-
ing, "Skiagraphy is still in its tallow
candle stage" What will it be when it
reaches its electric light era?
AS for the purely medical aspect OF
it's development, it is now stated, &C
cording to the report Of MN. Lor-
tet and Genoud to the French academy
of sciences, that tuberculosis is affected
by the x rays. They inoculated eight
guinea pigs with tuberculosis virus, and
exposed three Of them to the rays for an
hour daily during eight weeks. The five
which were kept from the rays developed
assesses, and their health was derang-
ed. The three kept in good health and
grew fat on the rays. The effect Of Or
dinary sunlight On bacilli has been tried
in the past, but with far from such
decisive result. The Roentgen rays burn
the human skin itself like sunlight, and
even destroy the hair.
Another curious extension of the use
Of these rays is the discovery by Pro-
fessors Grumbach and Du Bois Raymond
of Berlin that they will not only photo
graph the invisible bones Of the body,
but also some Of the softer parts as well.
By means Ct improved tubes these two
scientists have succeeded in revealing
the laryux and the diaphragm. The doc
tor Of tomorrow will evidently have no
need for diagnosis. All that will be
necessary for him to do will be to pull
out his little Roentgen snap shot camera
and present to the patient iGdisputable
ocular evidence of the precise allment.
Cases Of wrong diagnosis will be rare
indeed. Even the exact causes of dys-
pepSia will be revealed at a glance, and
nobody will need to be apprehensive
about appendicitis or in dread doubt as
to the need CT the surgeons horrifying
knife. e.-Pkiladelphia Record.