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Aid In The Use Of X Rays

Aid In The Use Of X Rays image
Parent Issue
Day
27
Month
June
Year
1902
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Paraffin Shield Found to Prevent Burning of the Skin.

Dr. J. Mount Bleyer of New York announces a discovery regarding the use of X rays that does away with the injurious effects of a prolonged application of the rays. He has found, according to the New York Tribune, that a paraffin coating one-eighth of an inch in thickness which is applied to that part of the person on which the rays are directed prevents burns. Prolonged application of the X rays, such as is necessary in treatment of cancer and tuberculosis, has been found to result in so called virulent burns. Because these burns do not develop till several days after the application it has been a theory that they are due to secondary infection and that the rays drive dust floating in the air into the skin of the patient. These particles carry inoculation.

Acting on this theory, Dr. Bleyer, by experiment, found that paraffin would catch and hold the virulent particles which were carried by the X rays.

Various other efforts have been made to prevent irritation from the atmospheric impact produced by the Rontgen discharge. An aluminium screen has been often employed. But the disadvantage of this and similar devices is that a screen of such material robs the rays of three-fourths of their efficiency. The paraffin coating permits the uninterrupted current, but stops the flow of alien particles.