The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-11-21

6ASSh SloSS anu Nlle llJll6 SASNtA " sparks, was too much for one female patient In our representative pres- ence. and she sobbed and shook as though about to undergo a major ope- ration; and it was only with difficulty and the exercise of patience that she could be induced to place her needle ridden hand in the proper position.
 But, as has been said, dealing with hands or feet Is comparatively simple. It is the more complex cases that are the more interesting. One of these, at which our representative assisted" :" was that of an old man with painful hip. He had met with an accident, and was convinced that he was suffering from dislocation improperly treated. The surgeon at once diagnosed the complaint as what is commonly called rheumatic gout, but to satisfy the suf- ferer the joint was photographed. Laid on his back on a couch, with the plate underneath the affected part, it called for little or no effort to stay still in one position for twenty minutes. That length of exposure was deemed neces- sary as the subject was a big man, and the x rays had to penetrate consider able thickness of flesh. It may be re- marked in passing that one of the diff culties of the process is to know the eX- act amount of exposure required If the plate be exposed too long, the rays go through bones and all, and the result is chaos and old night. In the case un- der review, precisely the right exposure was allowed and an excellent negative obtained which conclusively corrobora- ted the diagnosis. Nothing remained for the sufferer, therefore, but to pos sess his soul in patience, and to grin and bear his pain; but he had, at any rate, the slight consolation of knowing ten minutes after the photograph had been taken that there was no ground for his previous fears. This and other consultations took place in room. which serves the double purpose of stu dio and dark room but while our rep resentative remained at the hospital a number Of cases were taken in the wards.
 The whole apparatus, which consists of the all-important Crookes' tube (of the type specially designed by MT. Her bert Jackson of Kings college), and a wise in which to hold it, the accumula- tor, the induction coil, and the plates weighs under two cwt,, and is wheeled to the bedside on an India rubber tired trolley. everything being got ready in a few seconds. The process causes very little disturbance in the wards. The noise of the coil, with its hammer beat ing and miniature thunder, is inconsid- erable, and the whole operation evil dently affords an agreeable break to | the monotony of ward life. The first case in the wards was that of boy who had just come in to hostital with a | swollen knee. Some months previously the upper part of his femur had been wired for united fracture. His leg was, therefore, photographed twice on whole plates, and the negatives on be- ing joined showed the whole limb from thigh to shin, wires and all. The little fellow was told to keep his leg still, and for that reason was unable to control violent involuntary twitchings, so it was necessary to rest a hand on his leg. However, slight twitchings or similar movements do not materially interfere with the result of the new photography 1 and hence its superiority to the old. which those who have had their coun- | terfeit presentiments taken what time | their heads were fixed in ''rest" will appreciate. The next case was that of woman with a. needle in her foot, and such nurses as had not hitherto seen 1 the process clustered round the bedside. 1 The patient suffered Qike MT. Rhodes. according to MT. Chamberlain from l the last infirmity of noble minds, but | from no other sensation, and she was l evidently an object of envy in the minds of all the other patients in the ward who had not from the x rayist's point of view interesting complaints. The apparatus was conveyed by life to another floor where some difficulty was | caused as the patient possessed, in MT. | James Russell I4owel's words, "the pectoral proportions of a Juno" or shall we say an amount of adipose tissue that only an operatic soprano could ri- val? But with twenty minutes expo sure a triumphant photograph of the whole of the shoulder joint was ob- l tained. One more patient was visited
 a man suffering from the results of an accident, recently reported in all the papers. It was now thought desirable to see what progress he was making
 The plate in it's box (the whole being under the patients thigh without in the slightest moving the injured parts) and the photograph was taken through splints and all. The importance of be- ing able to report progress or otherwise l through splints must be obvious. The l only drawback in such cases is the presence of the metal pins joining a rectangular splint. Such, then, is a sample of what our representative was privileged to see.
 Lord Salisbury's hand, with it's ten l dency to gout, shown at the soiree ot the Royal society, was interesting, but that pales beside a photograph of a hir or elbow joint after operation. Te those ignorant of anatomy the photo graphs taken at the hospital would moi 1 be so interesting as, say, the photo l graph of the contents of purse in ones pocket, or of foot taken through a fashionable boot; but to students the former have an abiding value. So the vocal gymnastics of prima donna may prove more attractive to the groundlings (not necessarily to the gods) than the strains of "Goetterdam- erung." The influence of the X-rays on the surgery of the future is at pres ent administration Daily News.
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