The herald., 1896-03-04
THE ROENTGEN RAY

Professor LeConte of Berkeley has some-
thing to say about Roentgen's discovery.
and like everything he says, it is worth
| listening to. He tells us that the new
ray of light in which opaque substances
become transparent is improperly called
the cathode ray. The latter is old-it is
the ray which proceeds from the negative
pole of an electric current; the Roent-
gen ray 10 new, and even Roentgen
himself does not appear to UNDER
stand it. He seems to think that it orig
mates at the point where a cathode ray
from within inpinges upon the glass
tube III the instrument, and that 1t is a
direct ray. Others think it is the ray
known as the ultra red ray. 1t is known
| that ray of light coming from very
low temperature, as for instance, 100 or
! 80 degrees below zero. is a long ray, which
! will pass through clothes, flesh or other
| Opaque substances. At such a temper
ature everything becomes transparent
when the ultra red ray impinges on it.
! Scientists are asking whether Roentgen's
is not a new appearance of this ultra red
| ray.
| Professor LeConte was one of the first tn
realize the Importance of the new ,iiscov.
cry in surgery, and to discern its possible
extension. AT present the flesh of the
hand is invisible in the Roertgen ray, and
the latter s only absorbed by the bones, 40
that an irnpacted bullet, the line of a frac-
existence of a sequestrum or any similar
pathological condition of bone, be-
comes as plainly visible as ring
on the finger; but with 4 stronger appl.
cation of the light the whole body
may be similarly illuminated and tho fam
cifui pictures of skeletons now appearing
in tho papers may become real. For the
purposes of surgery the human frame
may be denuded of it's Fl shy envelope
and LESSONS Of the interior organs may be
exposed to the naked eye. A gunshot
wound. in which the most skillful surgeon
is unable to detect with the probe the loca.
tion of bullet, may be photographed with
minuteness that an operation for its excis-
ion may be conducted with mathematical
certainty.
Nor is this all. A correspondent of the
London Lancet draws attention to the
germicidal power of violet rays. An ultra
red ray, which is produced in an extremely
low temperature, becomes, when the TEN.
perature is raised. red, purple, red violet
and ultra violet. These violet rays, thrown
upon an aggregation of microbes in an
Crgan of the human body. may destroy tho
microbes, even though they be as tenacious
of life as the bacillus of tuberculosis.
1t is impossible to set limit to the pcs
sible uses of such a discovery as this OF
Roentgen. Up to the present moment it is
wrapped in obsclmity. All that is abso.
lutely known all that the discoverer
Clui1ES- is tudo u ray OA tlEIlt liaS Oe6u IN
vented; in which the bones of the hands are
visible through the flesh. On the face of
it, this was not really an original dscov-
cry. For years people have amused them
selves by tracing the skeleton of the hand
when that member was interposed be-
tween the spectator and powerful electric
or even kerosene light. In the old hydro
carbon light the veins can be seen. What
was novel in the Roentgen ray was the
distinctness with which the phalanges
and metacarpal bones were disclosed, with
sharp outlines and clear definition of
substance. Roenigen improved upon
road which had been travelled before. 1t
now remains for him to improve upon him
self, and so to develop his discovery that
the medical photographer shall be able
to lay before the surgeon a mathematical
ly accurate map of the diseased organ upon
which he has to operate; to the end that no
surgeon, operating upon the abscess of the
barin, for instance, shall be compelled to
arrest his knife in the middle of the opera
ton and to repeat the phrase of Dupuy-
tren: "Gentlemen, the operation is a fail
ure. the patient is dead."-San Francisco
Bulletin.