Daily Arizona silver belt., 1907-07-09
VALUE OF THE x-RAY Within a Decade It Has Become Almost Indispensable to Surgeons

As an adjunct to surgery, the Roent. gen ray has become indispensable, and there are few surgeons in America to- day who do not employ it as diag- hostile in their general practice. The conduct of many operations which are now performed with comparative ease was rendered extremely difficult, if not impossible, before it's introduction. By its use it is possible to determine the nature and position of fractures, the presence of foreign bodies, and the sur gical treatment necessary; by its use, also. the condition of the heart and lungs can be determined, and the size, position and shape of the stomach and intestines determined with considerable accuracy. Tuberculosis, pneumonia, heart trouble, diabetes and various dis orders of the bladder and kidneys can be recognized sooner by this than any other means, and their progress often arrested at an earlier stage than would have been possible before the advent. There are, unquestionably, many emi- nent physicians in this country who hold that as therapeutic agent the Roent- gen ray has accomplished comparatively little, and that it has signally failed to fulfill the promises made for it in it's infancy, but those who are employing 1t in their daly practice find it powerful lieutenant in the treatment of various disorders, for many of which, before the advent of the Roentgen ray, no prac- tical remedy had been prescribed; in fact, it is an open question whether, at the present moment, it is not accomp- l..hs sar .aaNaA is as diagnostic.
 There is probably no ailment to which flesh is heir to so destructive or so wide spread as eonsumption-the great white plague. Indiscriminate in its tastes, 1t attacks rich and poor, black and white, with almost equal fatality. During the past few years determined stand has been made against this disease by the medical profession, and every new agency which seemed to promise even temporary relief has been faithfully tried. Two of the most important of these are Koch s tubereulin and Mara gliano s more recent "iniection of spe~ eifc tuberculosis bacilli directly into the lungs ''-a specific obtained by in jecting bovine animals with water extract of living tubercular bacilli, and extracting a serum therefrom.
 As an auxiliary in the treatment of this disease the Roentgen ray has prov ed particularly valuable, especially in the first and final stages. While in the final stages the inevitable end has never been averted, the hemorrhages, night sweats and levers have been controlled, the pain has been allayed, the general conditions made more comfortable, and in many cases the patients life pro- longed. In the earlier stages the appe- tite, weight and strength have been ma. terially increased, and the general con dition improved so as to enable the pa tient to make a much better fight against the progress of this dread af- lection.
 Has consumption been actually cured in it's incipient stagesi is question few physicians would be ready to an swer in the affirmative at the present time, but many, no doubt, have their private opinion. It is certainly an in- disputable fact hat persons possessing many of the preliminary symptoms some, even, who have been advised to that last resort of the eonsumptive, the sanitarium-have been apparently cured and with the passing of time there has been no recurrence of the malady.- Van Norden Magazine.