New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-03-15
ROENTGEN RAYS AND BACILLI.
EXPERIMENTS BEGUN BY THE BOARD OF
HEALTH

EXPERIMENTS BEGUN BY THE BOARD Of
HEALTH.
The theory that the rays might be useo win
fatal effect upon the bacii Of certain diseases mas
more than once been advanced since Rontseh us-
covery has aroused the interest OF American sc'en
lists 1t has been left however. to the new ofH
Roard OF Health to test the practical possibilities
OF the rays in the direction Of killing baci In the
coming week DR.. Herman Biggs. ana Dr' a L.
Beebe Of the meteorological Department ana Ut.
e. W. Martin the chief inspector OF the roou
Division. will conduct series of experiments IN
,,,s rou, ee,d of research On Friday morning the
necessary apparatus for producing the rays, con-
s,stine of a Crookes tube and a Ruhmkorn COLL
was set up in the chemical laboratory or the oaru
In the afternoon. as a sort OF preliminary 'h'es.-
cation the bacilli OF diphtheria were exposed 10
the rays for an hour and a nalf, and afterwaro
xere returned to the incubator for the purpose OF
observing the effect Yesterday morning on exam
ination, 1t found that the oacih showed s'ei's
OF growth and that consequently, the Dac'ih were
not harmed by the new light. IL was eNpa'heu ~
A Tribune reporter yesterday. however, mat '"e
experiment was a very rough and crude one aho
that too much signincance shou'u "o' NC "
TO It,
The theory upon which the doctors mentioned
base their intended Investigations is that rounded
upon the effect of light upon baciIli IL IL known
that becilli in general are extremely sensitive u
light and that to many kinds OF disease germs
even ordinary light Is absolutely fatal 1t was rea-
soned therefore. that the rays. because OF 'heir
powerful penetrative effect were likely TO be more
destructive than other kinds OF light
DR. Beebe when seen yesterday by Tribune re-
porter said It would be four five days before II
could bc decided whether the experiments were
likely TO be attended with success or not he ahd-
Cd f II IA found that the rays Kill the germs, our
further efforts be directed to passing the ght
through the human body. and in that way eraocat-
ing disease from the system. In the experiments
we made yesterday we took four cultures OF oph-
iberia from the original samples brought into the
Departmcnt, and planted them In the proper media
OF gelatne and beef broth In the usual test 'uoes'
These were subjected to the rays for an hour ana
half and the tubes afterward placed In the IN
cubator. where they were left all night under CON
difions OF warmth that were favorable Tor CROWN.
.,The result was that the bacilli were FOUND 10
have grown and were therefore not destroyed. But
this was only a preliminary experiment and should
not carry too much weight. Moreover. the cultures
were not pure diphiheria baclli, but were mixed
With others more tenacious of life. Probably. by
means OF a careful examination with a microscope.
I shall ascertain whether there were any diner.
ences OF effect produced upon the various KINDS OF
baciIl, but II is apparent that long and exhaustive
experiments will be required before the question
oT the practical application OF rays for me de-
struction OF disease germs can be dete'm'ned