The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-03-11
Located the Bail.

f'fU'n the Pittsburg sunday Dispatch.
Some remarkably successful expert
ments with the Roentgen, or y ray,
have just been made by DIR. II. G. Pit
eairn aud DIR. V. :. Gaggin, resident
surgeon and resident physician re-
spectively at the Homeopathic hospi-
tai, which clearly demonstrate the
wonderful value 10 surgery of the new
discovery. The experiments were
made by Drs. Pitcairn and Gaggin,
with this end in view, and they took =
purely practical form, being the FIRST
tests of the Y ray that have been made
in any hospital in Pittsburg.
The experiments were conducted 1T
the Homeopathic hospital and two
very fine negatives were obtained.
One Of these shows the location of a
thirty-two caliDre bullet between tine
third and fourth metacarpal bones Of
the right hand. The bullet in the
hand is shown quite plainly, a. well as
the hand itself or course "a bullet
in that location could be easily felt, bat
the demonstration Is interesting. No
attempt was made to show the bones
Of the hand plainly, although this
could easily have been done by a long
er exposure, the experiment in this in
stance being confined to locating the
= 4 tr.
y ray of only thirty minutes to obtain
the picture, and in the operation the
rays penetrated the hand, passed
through the bullet and an inch board
before reaching the photographic
plate on which the shadowy picture
OF the hand and the bullet were printed.
The other negative obtained by Drs.
Pitcairn and Gaggin shows very plain
~ outlined a collection Of surgical in
strument, including pair Of surgeons
scissors, a scalpel, an iredectomy, knife,
grooved director, ear souuder and com
mon key. This picture was taken
with a forty minutes exposure, the y
rays passing through the instruments
and an inch board to the plate. To re-
produce the pictures would be merely
To show cuts now familiar to readers of
the DissGfrb.
In making their experiments Drs.
Pitcairn aud Gaggin followed the real
Baentgen process. They nsed bat
terry Of six Buns.n cells. The electri-
city passed from this to what i known
"a a RumkoT coil, greatly increasing
the potential force, or voltage, and
thence TO a CrOOkes tube, where the
y rays were generated. II has been
claimed that il required from 309,ODO 10
3D1,O0O volts % obtain pictures Of
objects by the Roentgen process, but
Messrs. Pitcairn and Gaggiu secured
their pictures with a 10000 or les
voltage, this being 4 result over which
they are certainly Justified in feeling
highly elated, a. well a. over the fact
that they are the first persons west Of
New York to demonstrate the practi-
cal value of the y rays in hospital sur
gerry.
They intend 10 keep right along in
tine WORK and make further expert
mcuts. While ! was in the hospital,
yesterday afternoon, engaged in con-
versation on the subject with the two
medical men, a man eame in to have
something done with one Of his arms,
which was troubling him greatly. Or.
Pitcairn found that he was suffering
from an old gun shot wound, and that
part of the bone known n the radius
was gone. DR.. Pitcairn arranged for
the man 10 call at the hospital Monday
or Tuesday, when he will demonstrate
the utility of the y rays 10y making Use
of R1entgen's discovery in the surgical
operation he will perform on tine mans
arm. In speaking Of the pictures
made by himself and DIR. Gaggin, he
said:
''If this discovery Of Roentgen's had
been known at tine time Garfield WAS
shot by Guiteau, he would probably be
alive to-day, for il i generally believed
that the continual probing for the as
saSsin's bulIe; was what killed Gar
Held. With the y rays the bullet
could probably have been located and
extracted and his life probably saved