The New York herald., 1921-02-14
CANCER RELIEF IS
HERALDED IN NEW
POWERFULX-RAY
Quantum Law Applied to
Spectrum Gains Needed
Penetration.
FIRST USE In THE u. S.
Discovery by Harvard Pro-
fessOr Promises to Sup
plant Radium.
CHEAPNEsS BIG ASSET
Insurance Men Give $4,000
to Special Plant for Can
GER Research.
CHEAPNESS BIG ASSET

GER Research.
Special Despatch TO THE NEw YORK HERALD.
CAMBRIDGE. Mass, Feb. 13.-Prof.
covered means to obtain X-rays of
more penetrating quality than hereto
fore has been obtained in this country,
and these new rays are now to be used
for the first time in America for the
alleviation Of cancer. Prof. Duane did
his work in collaboration with re-
search students of physics.
While it is emphatically stated by
Prof. Duane that neither X-rays nor
radiun should be considered perma-
nent cure for all kinds of cancer. it
a marked alternative effect upon this
disease, and the Harvard physicists
have reason to believe that the effect
of the new highly penetrating X-rays
will be equally beneficial.
The Harvard Cancer Commission is
erecting a new building adjoining the
Coils p. Huntington Hospital in Boston,
where an X-ray plant will be installed as
well as the commissions radium plant
Confident that the life of cancer patients
Inay thus be prolonged. life insurance
companies of Boston have given over
$50, 900 toward the new building.
Here the experiments will be per-
Co., n .tay. L A..
newly discovered. penetrating type Of
X-rays. How effective they will prove
cannot be determined until they have
been used for some time. The advan-
tago of X-rays over radium is that the
latter is scarce and immensely expen-
sive. costing at present more than
100000 a gram, and can therefore only
be used In small quantities. IL x-rays
were used it would be possible to make
the rays enormously more powerful than
has been possible with the limited
amount OF radium available.
Rays Lacked Penetration.
The trouble with the use of X-rays up
to this time has been that they are not
as penetrating as the so-called Gamma
rays" of radium. and the problem of the
Harvard physicists has been to secure
this needed quality.
To obtain penetration il was necessary
to get high frequency OF vibration.
The Harvard physicists, after a great
number of experiments. at length found
that a physical law, known as the
"quantum law" applied to the %-ray
spectrum, and they also discovered that
they could increase the frequency of the
rays. and thus their penetration. by in
creasing the voltage of current used in
the X-ray tube.
Prof Duane reports that the tube
goes to pieces under a voltage of more
than 10000, but that a sufficiently
high voltage has been secured to make
the X-rays very nearly as effective for
certain medical purposes as the Gamma
rays of radium. The Germans. IL is
said, have made great Roadway recently
with the use Of high frequency x-rays
in aileviating cancer. but these particu-
lar rays have not been used In America
up to this time.
A vast amount of work has recently
been done by Prof. Duane in the de-
tailed study of X-ray spectra. Some of
this work may prove effective in in
creasing the medical value of x-rays,
but much Of it is being done simply
with the scientific purpose of getting to
know more about the mysterious rays
and the laws which govern them.
Rays Peril to Operator.
Long continued exposure to X-rays Is
so dangerous TO the operator that the
greatest pains have to be taken to pro-
tect him from them. In the Jefferson
physical laboratory at Harvard. where
Prof. Duane makes his experiments, the
X-ray plant is kept In "A room by Itself
and the rays are sent out through a
minute slit in the wall
Prof. Duane was graduated from the
University OF Pennsylvania in 1892. and
also from Harvard in 1S93. He took
his Doctors degree In Berlin in 1891
worked for many years in tho curle Ra-
dium Laboratory in Paris and came to
Harvard in 1913 as assistant professor
OF physics and research fellow of the
Cancer Commission. In 1917 he was
promoted 20 "A new full professionally OF
bio-physics.
The discovery OF the application OF
the 'quantum law" to the X-ray spec
trum is thus described In detail:
The principal object was to secure
X-rays OF very penetrating quality. II
was already known that the penetration
increases as the cube OF the frequency
OF vibration OF the ray. and thus the
problem became TO increase the fre-
quency.
The discovery OF the application of
| the uuantum Law to the N-ray spec
trum was then made. according TO which
the frequency. multiplied by certain
well known constant in physics known
as h. equals the energy which the cleo
trou has In the &-ray tube when Il
strikes the target.
II was also known that the energy Is
equal TO the charge which the electron
has, multiplied by the voltage applied
to the tube Therefore. IL became clear
that high frequency. and thus penetra-
ton. would result from an increase in
the voltage.
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