The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1896-09-24
ROENTGENs DISCOVERY USELESS
WITH THAT ORGAN.
No Light Powerful Enough to Pene-
trate the hillary seat-Nothing
but the Knife VIII Reveal
Either Wounds or Dis
eases There.


remain there unless found by the an
cient method of probe and knife. x
rays, Roentgen's process, aided by the
appliances devised by all the electrical
scientists of the age, are poWerless
against the texture of the liver. Prac-
tically every other portion of human
anatomy will yield to the penetrating
power Of the Horoscope, but that liver
declines to do anything of the kind. AT
least this is the decision reached by Dr.
William H. Forwood, of the United
States army. He declares that he mas
been unable to locate anything In or
behind the liver when the rays are sent
upon the body from the front. They
will not penetrate that organ.
DR.. Forwood is officially known as
Lietanant Colonel and Deputy Surgeon
General. He is on station at headquar-
tiers in Washington and the duties OF his
Office leave him considerable leisure
time. This time he has used for many
In the practice of his profession. He is
noted in the medical world as an ex-
perimentist and has produced some re-
suits which have overturned precon-
ceived ideas. AS a medical officer OF
the army, and ranking one at that, he
has the facilities at hand or attainable
III NH n txyin or n
experiments. AS soon as Prof. Roent-
gen made his discovery known, DR..
Forwood began his experiments. He
secured all the appliances by requisi-
ton, for the good Of the service" and
established Crookes tube laboratory
unexcelled in the country.
Then he commenced his experiments.
He photographed his orderly from every
possible standpoint, causing that useful,
but somewhat sensitive man to feel
strong desire to get out of the service.
He practiced on the hospital corps, and
induced many of those who are at
tached to the general headquarters in
the capital city to submit themselves
to the influence of the rays. He assem-
bled all of his pictures, but he never
touched liver. Then he went cunning
for livers, but so far has not been able
to land one.
DR. Forwood was a member of the
army retiring board which adjourned
Friday morning after holding sessions
for several weeks at Gen. Merritt's
headquarters in the Pullman Building.
He is an enthusiast in medical matters,
and especially x rays. 1t is said that
he wanted to photograph the alleged
disability of every officer who appeared
before the board to be examined for re-
tirement. If they were all right the
rays would show it. But somebody sug-
gested that one of the officers suffered
from chronic hillary arrangement.
"Oh, WELL" said the Deputy Surgeon
General, "If that's the matter with
him, we'll have to try him the old way.
. can't get liver with the rays"
This started the investigation con-
corning the power Of the rays. Several
of the officers detailed for duty on the
board knew DR.. Forwood's experiments
with the rays, and they asked him to
tell what he had done and what the rea-
son is that the rays will not pierce a
liver. The Doctor agreed, but prefaced
his remarks by saying that he knew nc
special reason why liver should resist
the rays. He only knew that 1t does.
II have not given 1t up" he said, "bu
it is singular fact that l cannot gel
through a liver. have succeeded II
drawing everything else but this BAT
fles me. The Increasing of the power
or voltage, does not help. In some things
this does assist. For instance, you car
see through white man much easier
than you can through a negro. Wher
darby is being experimental on yol
have to increase the power of the in
strument in a marked degree. This Il
due primarily, I suppose, to the pig
ments In the colored mans skin, ant
the corresponding density Of his cover
ing. But this liver business gets me.
1.-THE annoying nature of this failure
is shown when you figure the numbel
of fellows who get bullets in their liver.
in battle 1t is hard to hit man il
the trunk without involving one or botf
lobes of the organ. Now a wound in the
liver may or may not be fatal 1t is mo-
necessarily fatal. If the surgeon goes
after the bullet and finds 1t has pene.
trated the liver, as far as can see, he
will have to trust to luck, cut the man
wide open, or let the ball alone. 1t may
become encysted in that liver and re-
main there for years, and then the sur
geon, if he survives and relatives do not
interfere, may hold a post-mortem and
extract it.
II can find anything want by cut
ting, but what am looking for now is
means of finding what I want withoUe
using the knife. If you slash a man
sufficiently you can generally find what
it is that is hurting him, but this new
idea when perfected will, or ought to,
enable field surgeons to determine
whether or not there is any use Of fool
ing with a wounded man. But the liver