The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1896-10-03
INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS
Testing the herald's Wonderful X.Rsy
Apparatus
A Piece Of Needle Located in a Thumb.
Soft Rubber Is Impermeable to
the New Light.

At the test of The Herald's Roentgen
ray apparatus at DR.. Yoakum's office
in the Bradbury building yesterday
Mr. William Gibson presented triple
soled standard screw shoe. the heaviest
in his stock. 1t was permeated by the
rays and rendered transparent to all
through the three soles and the shoe
upper, with the exception Of the steel
shank and heel nails.
Examination Of the various hands and
arms Of those present resulted in To-
eating piece of needle in the first joint
Of the thumb in Mrs. F. L. Hopkins left
hand. 1t did not show as plainly as the
needle in Mrs Murray's hand the day
before, but the location was determined
by the definite dark shadow cast by 1t
and explained the considerable pain felt
in the joint by its owner at suEdry
times for two years past.
Two planks, one of light pine and one
Of dark walnut each over half an inch
thick, were nailed together with pair
Of scissors and a nail between them
The metal articles were as plainly Wis
ible as If unhidden by the boards.
The Medical and Surgical Register.
book of 100 pages, bound in heavy
boards. about Ave inches thick,was next
placed over the hand. of Mr.. Walter T.
Hicks, and the hand made visible
through the book.
A lead pencil belonging to Mr.. Lyle
Pendergrast showed its lead clear of
the wood, and also that the soft rubber
erasing tip was as impermeable to the
X-rays as are glass. iron and bone.
This may be q new discovery. 1t is not
generally known that soft rubber is i'm
permeable.
Among the ladies' present. Miss Mel
vania Jones. Miss Airline Bailey OF
Highland Park. and the Misses Gibson
and Miss Robinson submitted their
hands and forearns to the searching
glow, and demonstrated the fact that
the cloth coverings of the arms did not
diminish the clearness Of view from
that of the bare hand.
Surgical dressings, even when splints
are used, are readily permeable to tine
rays. and the condition of fractured
bones determined without removal of
bandages or splints
The rapid swelling about a broken bone
often makes 1t difficult for the surgeon
to detect by touch whether the fracture
is a simple fracture, or whether the
bone Is splintered. The exact condition
of the bone, however, Is readily detect
ed by this apparatus, in spite of the
swelling. And herein lies a very great
advantage to the surgeon in this inven-
nosing diseases and malformations of
bones, and especially in the detection of
glass or iron in the fleshy tissues.
For diagnosing deformities. tumors,
and obscure diseases, the X-ray is now
made practical for all parts of the hui
man body. The heart is seen to move,
and other organs come clearly into view.
The apparatus consists of a Ruhm-
korff coil encased in a box about three
feet long. fifteen inches wide, and TWEEN
ty inches deep, filled with oil for better
insulation; a motor through which the
electric current is adjusted to the re-
quired force and a Crooke's tube.
The famous Crookes tube is an egg
shaped hollow glass bulb from which all
| air has been exhausted, and through
| which the electric current is passed. In
| It the electric spark isc hanged from a
white or purplish light to an olive glow
| Of very low radiating power. Placed at
the side Of this glowing tube Opaque
| objects cast shadow upon q paper
| film smeared with phosphorescent salts
, and this shadow in its varying degrees
Of density from translucence to lines
| of jet darkness, presents a silhouette
picture of the object viewed.
At the test exhibition yesterday the
usual experiments were tried with lead
pencils, spectacles in cases. nails in
memorandum books and money In
purses. DR.. Fishers purse showed in
addition to the two keys of yesterday a
coin Of the shape of a penny and the
size of a five dollar gold piece. It was
impossible to distinguish, however
whether the inscription was I'm God
we Trust''-others paying cashier I'm
Mckinley we bust into eternal smash!"
Judging from the Doctors politics it
| might have been the latter.
All voted the invention a wonder al
most romantic in its possibilities and
the exhibition a succession Of marvels.
Among those present were: Messrs
Lyle Pendergrast DR.. I. Fisher, Walter
T. Hicks, D. J. Fisher. William Gibson
w. T. Abbott, S. Brookes, DR.. B. r.
| Gibson, Miss Melvania Jones, Miss Ar
line Bailey, Miss Parkinson and others
The Herald free X-ray public clinic
| will occur next Tuesday, October 9Th,
| from to II a. M, at The Herald editori-
| al rooms, on Fourth street, and continue
| doilu fb GRO oftop