Injurious Effects of the Roentgen Rays Page 6

in which was a transparent window of clear German glass, the injury which followed occurred only on that portion opposite the clear glass window, and the part covered, as it were, by the blue glass was unaffected, marked off by a sharp line of demarcation. He says the blue glass would have been transparent to the ultra-violet rays.

In another case (6) of purposely induced dermatitis, no effect was produced where the skin was covered with lead and tin foil, the lesion appearing only on the uncovered area, although exposed at a distance of only five-eighths of an inch. It would appear that only the electricity attacking the area covered by the foil was conducted away, while that attacking the uncovered area was the ultimate cause of the injury. Certainly the x-rays would have penetrated the foil as if it had been paper.

Dr. Monell is authority for the statement (7) that "nothing is more certain than that a sufficiently energetic electric current passing to tissues which it can reach and enter only after electrical energy has been transferred into heat by resistance, such as dry and hair-covered skin or clothing, will vesicate and can be made to produce intense and deep inflammatory action."

All these statements combined with the evidence of direct experiment tend to the conclusion that not the x-rays themselves, but the direct actions of the electric currents upon the fluids and tissues are the real factors in the damage done.

Tesla has stated (8) that he "believes the hurtful action is not due to the x-rays, but to the ozone generated in contact with the skin. Ozone," he says, "attacks the cutaneous surface, its action, no doubt, being heightened by the heat and moisture of the skin. This generation of ozone ceases at a definite distance from the electrical terminal, and the same is true regarding the production of this irritation." He also believes, or did believe that the electrodes became gradually disintegrated by the bombardment of the cathode rays, and that these metallic particles penetrate the walls of the tube. He said, (9) "I am getting more and more convinced that we have to deal with a stream of material particles which strike the sensitive plate with great velocities. If these observations be confirmed by men of keener insight, I shall be still more convinced that material streams of matter actually penetrate the skull. Thus it may be possible to project a suitable chemical into any part of the body."

Professor Ames (10) states: "The radiation in an x-ray tube may be divided provisionally into three classes: Ether waves, which may have wave-lengths from 150 to 800 m. m. approximately; cathode rays, which undoubtedly are streams of matter electrically charged; and x-rays, about whose nature there is no conclusive evidence at the present time. If the walls of the tube are thin enough, and of suitable material, all these radiations will emerge and pass into the surrounding air. It is a matter of doubt if the cathode rays observed outside the vacuum tube are the same as those inside; but the inner ones undoubtedly cause the outer ones. There is no evidence that the x-rays carry with them particles of matter, or that they directly cause a stream of particles; in fact, all known facts serve to point to the belief that they are ether waves of extreme shortness."

If this last statement holds true, then Professor Thompson has proven that the x-rays themselves do not burn. That the "cathode rays are streams of matter electrically charged," gives Dr. Gilchrist (11) sufficient reason to assume that the lesions may be due to the entrance of material particles - of platinum in his case - into the tissues, and that the cathode rays which accompany the x-rays, may be the cause of the trouble and not