Norwich bulletin., 1921-02-14
Penetrating !| Quality .Ofx-Rays Increased
Discovery Made by Prof. Will
 liam Duane of Harvard
 To Be Used in Alleviating Cancer. Ii |

Cambridge. Mass, Feb. 13.-(By The A. P)-DisGoveries made by William Duane, professor of tBio-Pnysics at Harvanl, working in collaboration with research sIGdents of psysics, have made it possf- be, according to. Harvard physiciSss to secure X-rays of more penetrating quaB- ity than have ever before been obtained in this country, and these new rays are now to be used for the fireL time in America for the alevtation of cancer.
 .W.niie it is errlp'la tcaEy s.ated by Professor Duane that neither X,rays nor radium should be considered perua nenf cure for all kinds of cancer, it has long been known that radiun has a marked agieviative effect upon this 'disease. and tn Harvard CJhys:cists have reason to be- keve that the effect of the new highly penetrating X-rays will be equally 5ene- f1ciaL
 1he Harvard cancer commission is eredfng a new building adjoining tine ColEs P. Huntington hosptal in Boston, where an X-ray plant will be installed as well as the conmissfon's radium plant- Confident that the life of cancer patients may thus be proonged, life insurance companies of BOston have given over S30 ,000 toward the new buijf4ng. Here the experiments will be performed wtI1cn will test the value of the newly dissov- cred, penetrating type of X-rays. How effective they will prove cannot be de- termined until they have been usel for some time. Professor Duane was graduata1 from l the University of Pennsylvania In 1892 and lso from Harvard in 1893. He took 1 his doctors degree in Berlin in 1891 worked for many years in the CuGte Ra- | Ci.un Laboratory at Paris. and came 10 Ia rd ip fa mt Physics and Research Fellow of the can Ger commission. In 1917 he was promoted ] to :. full profeSsosnip of Bio-PhySics. The significance of the discovery wa: | explained in tine following. statement to, | day: | .'The adva ntag ge of X-rays over radiun | is that the latter is scarce and inrnense l ly expensive, costing at present ovei | s10Q,000 a gram. and can therefore oniN l be used in small quanEft1es. If X-ray: I were used st would be possible to n.ak, | the rays enormously more powerful thai 1 has been possible with the limited amour
 amount of radiun available. The troubk
 with the use of X-rays up to tins tim l has been that they are Tot as penetratini | as the so-aNed Gamma rayB of radI
 um and the problem of the Harvarr
 r,fysicu-s has bee:: tc secure this needed qra Jty.
 Tt was known that to secure penetra | ton it was necessary to secure his | frequency of vibration. The Hatvd. physicists after a great number Of exDe-i
 naeI,s. at length found that plysicai iay | known as the 'quantun law applied [ tssec N-ray spectrum a nd -saiSse<ered tha they cou,d increase the frequency of tn
 rays, and tTus their penetration, by in
 creAsng the voltage of current used i
 the X-ray tube. Professor Duane re
 ports that the tube goes to pieces afte
 a voltage of more than 15o,0o0 vol.
 but that suffSc6eutly high voltage ha
 been secured to make the X-rays yer
 nearly as effective for certain medics
 purposes as the Gamma rays of radiun
 ''The Gersrans, it is said, have mad
 gread headway recently with the us of high-frequency X-rays in alleviatin
 cancer but these particular rays hay
 not been usel in America up ty tEi
 time"
 The discovery of the application of th . 'quantum law" 10 the X-ray spectrni is thus descrfool in detail:
 The principal object was to secu- X-rays of very penetrating quality
 was already known that the peas-rati;
 increases as the cube of the freqaen< ]. of vibration of the ray, and thus u
 problem became to increase the freJuel
 cy.
 "T-ne discovery of the application of ti
 duantum law to the X-ray spectrum V;
 then made, according to which the f. quency, multiplied by certain VI known constaTt in physio7 known as q equal t tne energy vt,ich the e!ec7ron h. 2 in the X-ray tube when it Sttkes Il
 target.
 Ut was also known tha he energy T equal to tine charge which the eiec7| = | has rrsltfDlied by the yo'rate apn,ie<l j. tsle tube. Therefore 1t became c'onr tn hisAl frequency. and thus penc;ratIc ' wouh result from an increase in t | yoTa ge"