Injurious Effects of the Roentgen Rays Page 1

It is safe to say that no scientific discovery was ever received with greater rejoicing by suffering humanity than the enunciation by Professor Roentgen of the possibilities he had discovered that the x-ray possessed which could be utilized to photograph the living dense structures of the human body and thereby determine their physiological and pathological condition.

An army of scientific men including many of the medical profession hastened to become his disciples.

Static machines and induction coils or step up transformers of every conceivable size and description were suddenly very much in requisition.

An era of experimentation and investigation with x-rays galore was inaugurated, all of which was productive of many glowing accounts of what was seen and done through their instrumentality.

But this new variety or degree of light, too rapid in its rate of etherial vibrations to be perceived by the visual organs also failed to impress the nerves of tactile sensibility and thereby warn us of its dangerous and destructive qualities, consequently many untoward results have been experienced through which the services of the Roentgenian have been brought into disrepute and his great field of usefulness thereby unduly limited.

Many who have been exposed to the Roentgen rays have suffered as sequelae all conceivable varieties and degrees of burns. The loss of an eye, the detachment the limitation of their destructiveness on the other. It is in this spirit that the writer who has had an experience from almost daily employment since their inception, nearly three years ago, concluded to communicate the tabulated results of his investigations.

Description of the X-Ray Burn

Not any disagreeable feeling is experienced in the parts during the exposure, only a gentle breeze caused by bombardment of parts by the particles of electrified air repelled from the outer surface of the Crookes' tube. A period of incubation lasting from one to twenty-one or more days in which the parts functionate as usual and are devoid of discoloration or discomfort. Small erythematous spots with itching and dull pain deep seated become manifest, the redness extends, the pain increases in severity, is worse at night, and at times almost unbearable. The epidermis becomes separated from the derma by a transfusion of watery serum forming large blebs which coalesce, break down and discharge profusely. The epidermis desquamates layer after layer much as we can remove the outer coatings from an onion, the parts are much swollen, stiff, hot, angry looking, bleed easily and are very painful. If the fingers or toes are attacked the nails lose their brightness, as they grow out the line of demarkation between the new and old