Omaha daily bee., 1910-08-02
motion and their normal relation to each
other D AUTOMATICALLY maintained"
EXPERT IN X.RAYS DYING
Famous Operator In PhiladelPhiu
Victim Of Practice of HIS
Profession.

DR.. Mihran X. KassAblan. one OF the
foremost skiagraphers, or X-ray operators,
In the United States. and one who Is re-
garded as an authority on the subject,
lies dying in the jefferson hospital Phila-
delphia, from the effects OF X-ray burns,
received in the practice of his profession.
The greatest secrecy has been maintained
about the illness OF Or. Kassablan. and he
Is said to have been most solicltous
about the facts being made public.
for there is general feeling among
the x-ray men to keep from the
public dangers OF the X-ray. Il Is custom
AIRY for them to pooh-pooh the idea Of
danger, yet there are few OF them In this
city or elsewhere who do not carry on their
hands the evident marks OF the X-ray
burns. Several of those specialists In this
city have already lost fingers from the
burns. These developed until II became
necessary to have the fingers smputated.
DR.. Kassablan has been recognized as
one Of the most daring men in the pro-
fession, and as recently as three weeks
ago, after he had returned from the JEFF
ferson hospital, where he had the large
muscles of the left side Of his chest re-
moved, he returned to practice. II was
about this time that he went to Trenton,
as an expert witness In q case for damages.
His book had been put in evidence before
he arrived, and the side for which he had
been engaged is said to have won, and
he was not put upon the stand
1t is the belief Of physicians who have
examined theN case that DIR. Kassablan is
suffering from what is called skin cancer,
the results OF repeated burnings from the
x-rays 1t Is recognized that every time
skyagrapher makes an X-ray photograph
he also receives some of the mysterious
emanations Of the tube. Various attempts
to safeguard the operators have been tried
but 1t is said that none of them have
proved to be effective
From the X-ray dermatitis, or skin can
Ger, it is said, slresdy about score OF
well-known operators In various parts OF
the world have succumbed One of the
most prominent Of these cases was that OF
DR.. j. Hall Edwards of London. DR. M
Radiguet OF Paris also died from the burns;
Dr. Louis Weigal OF Rochester was another
victim, and Clarence Daily of the Edison
laboratory was another of the famous OPP
orators who became Victims to the danger
GUS profession.
While the dangers OF the x-ray are well
understood, 1t is a noticeable fact that
that they are seldom referred to by prac-
titioners. for fear the public will take
fright, although it is also fact that per.
sons who have been under the rays for the
purpose Of having a photograph made OF
them, have in very few instances been per-
manently harmed. Once liberated, the rays
are said to be so insidious that they pene-
trate practically every known substance
and none Of the safeguards provided have
In all cases actually provided immunity
for the operators. The latter, however, are
now said to be more careful than formerly
but 1t has become an axiom that you know
the skiagrapher by his tied-up hand, gloved
to hide the burns.-Philadelphia Ledger.