Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-12-28
x-RAYs TO BLEACH NEGROES.
Expert Doubts Report from Phila
 delphia hospital.


 The Philadelphia Record prints the following report of 8 discovery in hospital of that city, of new use for the X-ray:
 To change the hue of negro-to make white man out of black one has always been reckoned among the worlds impossibilities, but recent discovery at the University of Penn sylvania shows that the transforma- ton is perfectly feasible and that the blackest skin can be made white through the agency of the wonderful X-ray.
 The discovery was made incidental ly while negroes were being treated with the rays for cancer and lumpus, and although no attempt has been made to try the effect of the light upon the skin of healthy negro, yet there is no reason to doubt that the rays could be employed for the sole purpose of whitening the skin and that before long some one will hang out the sign, "Complexions Bleached to any Desir>i Shade"
 DT H. K. Pancoast, the skfa grapher of the university hospital, noticed that after negroes had been treated for some time with the rays the skin be- came gradually winter and that after long time the surface became per l fectly white in every place that the | light touched. The condition Is appar- entity permanent fer some of the ne- groes have nat been treated for many months, yet the skin remains as white as after the last treatment.
 The white co1ored skin Is exactly | like that Of an ordinary white man and presents perfec+Iv healthy appear arce II is natural skim but the for- mer. co1orfng has disappeared. hecat1se ! the rays have destroyed the pigment 1 which .ca1rsed It.
 l Tha same condition is met with now ! and then in neeroes who though per l feetIv heai+hv otherwise. have had the 1 coIori41g cells die ont when white patches anDear. The X-rav is most powerful agent of destruction. and un- I Ser its frffrence the pion1en+ is +otslfv 1 des+raved and +here is TO nower to re produce It giving the skin a perma. nen+ whiteness.
 There is no reason to believe but 1 that healthy neoro cor'ld he whitene1 { bv having that coloring matter I hTeached from his skin and the only urestion is whether or not the patient wo1-Id he able to stand the treatment anp1ied so extensively. The X-ray will l not on1v destroy the piement9 but. if ann1ied with enoueh force 1t will en' tirely kill the tissues. and this sort of a T,l,rn is the worst known to medicine R,1t with a mild annlica+ion eytendine over a long epace Of time the b"rns could be avoided. Tn the cases treated I at the university hosrital there were no burns whatever. and the patier-s are perfectly healthy. It seems possi
 hle to give the treatment without i'm l pairing the health of the subject ! A Sun renorter Interviewed Dr Car Peck last nieht on the possibility ot the Ethiopian chanoing his skin. pr Beck is a reoogniznd authority on the
 uses and effents of the A-ray.
 'fNo. I can say most empha tica'ly l that the negro will never be able tf l change his skin by the use of the ! x-ray. The pronosition is not a now
 one. Some years ago I mada expori
 ments as 70 the effect of the X-rav or the skin of naornes found that sonne
 of the nien1enf which differan+iates the
 skin of the black mon from the white
 would 1oa burned ont if may 11se that I exprassion But very little of it.
 "The result was dull dirty coloref
 skin. Even this was not nermanont
 Tn a comnera+ive1y shnr+ time the nio
 naert worIs return and the skin resume
 it's natural hua.
 | q &considar, if an absolute in1nossihil
 f+v .+o cor1+inra the rse of tho rav Io0G enough to b1111l ont e1l tho niement. O'
 +a ann1v it all over tba body so thu +ha en+ive skin world ho affactnd AT in7udioio,ls of- +ha X-ray inH'cts
 most 11airfn1 and danoaro,Is burn. A
 long or oer,era1 arDli ica+'ona of it would l Inc Iit+Ia IaSs fhan erin1inal"