Omaha daily bee., 1911-04-30

the price that he had paid Tor his abllly
TO cure the cancers Of others
In 1909 he came TO the conclusion that he
was doomed TO die sooner or later from
the effects Of his burns. In 1905 two u
his fingers were amputated skin cancer
had begun to appear upon his left hand
and later il began to move slowly up his
arm. Last year it was found that the
ray-induced cancer had reached the glands
under his left arm. DR.. Chalmers da Costa
Of the jefferson Medical college was called
to New York to perform an operation. The
ray irritated flesh would not heal after
| the glands were removed. Kassabian, who
/ had fought with cancer so long, was
slowly sinking and still another operation
was decided upon. The glands on the right
! side OF the chest were removed. 1t was
useless In the meanwhile the whole of
| lis left side had become affected and there
was nothing that could be done.
! Thomas A Edison lost a valuable as
| sistant because of similar burns some years
ago Sull another death in the medical
! profession, brought about by these power
/ full rays, was that of DR. Louis Weigel
of New York. Daley, Edison's assistant
died by inches. A cancerous growth APP
/ peared upon his left arm and the lower
part of this limb was amputated. Slowly
his hair, mustache and eyebrows vanished
and his skin in many places became hard
ened and inflamed. Then his right hand
and arm began to go. First four fingers
were taken from that member, futile
effort was made to save his upper arm by
grating small pieces Of healthy skin upon
l. it from time to time Finally II, too, was
lost and went under the surgeons knife in
a vain effort TO save the sufferers life Il
was in 1901 that Daley was added to the
list of dead who had died because of theil
devotion to science.
> Long Fight Against Death.
weigel died in 1908, after seven opera
tons His fight against death was one of
the longest in the history of those who
t have gone to their martyrdom because of
the X-ray. Some years ago the CURES iso-
) lated radium. Curie himself died as an in
direct result of the researches with that
dangerous element The immediate cause
3 of his death was his being run down in the
3 streets of London, but his weakened con-
} dition because of frightful chest burns
= from radium was the contributing cause
e of his decease.
The comparative immunity that the race
) now has from many diseases was pur-
3 chased in some instances by the death OF
( one or more investigators. yellow jack
t has ceased to be the dreaded thing that il
was before the death of DIR. Walter Reed
= Reed solved the mystery of the spread OF
e yellow fever and died in its solving. But
s there will never be another terrible vista
. ton of yellow Jack" in our southern
= cities. Thirty years ago the south was
just beginning to recover from a terribl,
visitation of this infection. 1t had cos
that section of the country millions OF dol
= lars and few thousand lives First and
last yellow Jack" has hung his saffron
: banner out ninety times in the United
!, States. There have been ninety of thes
: deadly invasions of this mosquito born
disease DR.. Reed made it certain tina
there will never be another Of any seriou!
!, proportions.
4 Deaths Every Month.
e Doctors and surgeons are dying almos
o every month in the year from cancer, tn
II bercuosis, fevers, blood poisoning or som
}, obscure ailment that attacks when .sas
k expected. Most of the research student
"a of medicine understand that they are tax
r ing their lives literally In their hand
q when they enter upon their studies Dis
3 case germs Turk in the air about theI
II during most of their working hours. The
q literally lie down and get up with dealt
s and their waking moments are taken u
n with the handling and culturing of germ
n that may at any time infect them. A sir
4 gle slip may prove fatal When a docto
Is starts upon a career of research he unde
q stands just what his chances are and az
q cepts them.
f. L. = g., rn,l