The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-05-13

What Is Is Likely Ito Do for surgery
and PathoIogy-Prof. Oliver Lodges
Summing Up of What We Know About
(From the Saturday Review.)
1t will be my endeavor in this paper TO
give some precise account of the Roens'
gen rays, of their qualities, their mode
of action, and Of the uses to which they
may be put. The notable property OF
Roentgen rays is not that they traverse
opaque matter, but that they travel IN
straight lines while doing so. Ordinary
opacity has reference merely to the phys
ioal agent which appeals to the bra In;
but:physicisSs are aware of many other
varieties of radiation, and some Of these
have long been known to be capable OF
penetrating such things as wood and
ebonite, or even brick and stone, without
much difficulty. Indeed, sound is q
kind of radiation with which everyone
is familiar, and no one expects ordinary
optical Transparency and opacity to gov
ern the nsmissibility of sound.
I1QU AUOTA AlGu III IdoAes
ton was able to traverse obliquely set
material boundaries without being de-
f1ected from it's straight path, nor was
any known kind of radiation able to
plunge through mass of irregular sub
stance without being scattered by repeat
cd reflections. The radiation first
studied by Leonard and now developed
by Roentgen suffers no reflection, or next
to none, when it enters dense matter, nor
is it bent or deviated by any irregulari-
ties in shape; it plunges straight on in
straight line until Its energy has been
all absorbed. What becomes Of the ener-
gy it is premature to say-it may turn
into heat in the orthodox way, or it may
be consumed in producing chemical dis
ISOLATION. The immediate destination OF
the quenched Rosntgen ray is problem
still awaiting solution by further exper-
imenu.
The applications Of the rays hitherto
made, and likely to be made in the near
future, lie in the fields of surgery, anat-
omy, and pathology. The first and east
est application is the loca tion of foreign
metallic bodies, such as bullets and
needles. This application will soon be-
come SO rapid and easy az probably to
supersede all other methods of detection.
Given the necessary apparatus, it can
be rugged up in any room in a quarter Of
an hour OF less, and by that time the eye
of an observer may have been accustomed
to- darkness sufficiently to make it of
service for the kind of vision required.
If Photographic plate is going to be
used no darkness is needed; the plate
must be kept properly wrapped up SO
that no light can get to it; but the use Of
such plate implies that the locality of
the foreign body is roughly known. For
difficult cases, as when bullet is en-
bedded in the trunk or in the brain, it
| may be necessary to use Photographic
plate, and in any case it may be oonve.
niant to have record Of the result; but
| for rapid exploration of the extIemities
direct vision is sufficient.
| The observer, having been kept in
darkness for soma time, applies his eye
at about ten inches from prepared
screen, and upon that screen the shadow
of the arm or foot is then cast by another
operator, who uses suitable Roentgen-
| Crookes tube as his source Of the invisi-
| BILE rays. The hand and foot are SO
transparent that nothing more than this
/ would be necessary in their case; but for
| cases such as the knee or the trunk,
where there is great thickness either OF
bne or other tissue TO get through, 1t may
be necessary to employ the accommodating
power of q photographic plate, and to
give a fairly long expcsure-half an hour,
perhaps, or more If the source of the
rays is not working well. The plate il
more sensitive than the eye, because OF
| it's power of storing up an impression OF
some one thing whereas the eye is adapt
ed for roaming about and looking at q
succession Of things. The difference has
been emhasi1ed by the triu1nphs OF CO.
lestial photography.
1t seems likely that the out-patient de-
partment Of o large hospital will here
after have a sort of confessional hox IN
one corner, with q dark interior enolos-
ing the skilled observer. and with con-
vicinity PLACED huorescent screen let into
it's wall. An operator outside will ma
nipulate the apparatus, and thus ono pa
tient after another, by exposing them
selves 10 the stream OF rays falling upon
this screen, may have their injuries or
deforlnities located, and described by aid
of the shadow which they cast upon the
screen.
Next in case to foreign bodies come
injured bones ana joints, fractures dis,
locations, equity acoretions, diseased solid
| Rrowths mulformations, and the like.
Already, however, surgeons are are well well
nerhaps they may feel that no further
aid is necessary. 1t does not follow,
however, that they will not make use OF
the new process for the sake of greater
speed and precision, whenever it becomes
handilya available. = The cases hitherto
reported on in this direction, as showing
tbs results of operations such as bone
grating. joint excelsior, and the like,
have been more in the way of curiosity
and interest than of real necessity. There
have bean q few exceptions, of which the
most important have been connected
with the condition of the vertebrate in {
damaged spine.