The sun., 1901-05-12

for burns. and II they OCCUR II b becs,,s,
ne operator is not expert.
The present short exposure gives q,
ttmo Tor burning. Why. at the time OF tn,
hoenteen excitement n took half on houl
70 get q fair photograph Of hand. Nov
,ne ordinary exposure 10 from Ave scoond'
70 one minute, and can show you gooC
plate for which the exposure was less thai
i-ooOo OF q seoond-done IN q time too short
to DO sesily measured. That shows the I'm.
provement In X-ray apparatus
heros an interesting plate, That's a
oase OF osteo-myelltlc or hardening Of the
muscular tissue. It's q rare disease, but
we turned the X-rays on this patient and
got clear impression OF the hard streaks
In the ussue Then here's a plate that
shows tuberculosis Of the foot. The original
diagnosis and the treatment had been along
lines entirely different Here's q tumor
plate. II isn't always possible 10 show a
tunor by X-ray experiment but sometimes
one gets Coar impression. IL depends
upon surrounding Tissues.
What are most Of your hospital case-g'
| Bone fracture and dlslocations, or bone
disease, but We have good many bullet
| wounds and needles, pin points, broken
glass. &c. that have been forced into the
| flesh and need to be located. X-rays show
up such cases splendidly. but a foreign
substance like bullet cant be accurately
located by one picture You can see 1t
| on the plate. but you can't gauge Its depth.
| II was to meet this difficulty that Dr.
Mckenzie Davidson applied the stereo-
scopic principle 70 photography. He took
! two pictures from points two and half
inches apart, put them In stereoscope,
and 40 got measurement of solidity the
third dimension There have been a good
many improvements In stereoscopic radi-
ography some Of them very recent.
The only other method Of locating In
regard to depth ID to take two pictures at
right angles 10 each other. The angles
Inaccurate.
You were asking about our hospital
cases We get an astonishing number
OF children who have swallowed things
that don't agree with them. I'm DIS
covering that the number Of babies who
swallow safety pins Is really appalling.
One little darkey swallowed a nickel. 1t
was too big for him. He wasn't used TO
so much money all at one time The
nickel lodged in his esophagus and pressed
against his windpipe. OF course he had
great difficulty In breathing, and he was
doctored for a long time without being
helped -, - a.. ..o.
and suspected him of making away with
il, but didn't connect that with the breath
ing trouble. Finally the X-ray was turned
on the little rascal and there was the nickel.
in plain view. The doctor fished i out.
the financial stringency was relieved
and the family breathed easily once more
we had an English army surgeon here
not long ago. He said that the English
had used the X-rav extensively in the South
African war, and with excellent results.
II il not very practicable on the feld, hut
il of great use in army hospitals where
there is more time and better opportunity
for careful surgery.
"A Y1r
vate practice more than you would sup
pose Outside Of the laboratory, ! have
my hands full Of private patients. Doc
tors send them to me, or II necessary |
90 to the patient II is hard work. Peo-
pe have an idea that electricity and pho
Biography combined ought 10 be able to
do anything, and that the N-rnv machine
is sort Of pocket kodak business, that
the operator need only press the button.
and the machine will do the rest.
That is absurd Successful N-ray work
means long and careful study. The op-
orator must he thorough electrician.
He must famiiari1e himself with pho
tography, with the distortions and the
relative values ~ shadows, outlines dc.
He must have a fair knowledge Of anatomy.
An X-ray eXperimentallst positively
must develop his own plates lhatls dls-
agreeable hut essential part of the work.
The ordinary photographer knows his
own business, nut tOrSi I IN tIlf vast uil-
derstand what the physician is looking for
in the plate, nor how 10 bring the shadows
out 10 the best advantage. Developing
and putterng over detail take an infinite
amount Of time and patience, That is one
Of the reasons why most physicians, even
those deeply Interested in X-ray science.
turn the technical work over 10 experts
and content themselves with studying re-
suits However n few doctors are doing
splendid X-ray work themselves and are
finding the results Of great benefit in their
profession,
Hasn't il been said that while the N-ray
will penetrate all tissue Of body living
or in trance state. il will not penetrate To
tho lungs and heart Of a dead body
Yes. a physician announced that result
Of his experiments, and the papers talked
about it,"
Isn't It true'
We'll. my experience disproves it I've
done great deal of work with cadavers
and never had any difficulty in getting
good photographs. Some time ago, ! was
asked 10 go "a man and examine his heart
and lungs by X-rays When | reached
the place | found that the man was dead
but his relatives We're convinced he was
only in a trance. and Were afraid Of bury
ing him alive | made the eNamination.
The man was stone dead but had no diiil-
Guilty in studying his heart and lungs,