MARTYRS OF SCIENCE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 813, 10 May 1910, Page 4

MARTYRS OF SCIENCE.

. EOXTGEN-EAY BISKS. . , j '««?* ow ®. t° wortors' wnth 'tfie'mysterio r iis X-rays is : only dimly "appreciated, and now .that ap-;, .. pliances 'perfected'' for tfia' shielding. of - • the ' operators' who-'. pontrol vtllis.I powerful >n'd mysterious.: agency, the"-"' pains, and sacrifices.of the-past- are .'being- - ', forgotten, in the - triumphs of. the.: pre-.'. > senC " ' . \ -. ■• ■ Yet ,few of 'the' men" who applied tho X-ray in tho ten years following.'itsdis- . covery in 1895 by Professor Eontgen, of the University of "Wuriburg,-have come : from tho laboratories, unscathed.- The in- • iroiluction -of the lead screen : two years' . ago has done njuch to reduce-the risk.' l But no .material , tiling can. effecfaally : withstand the continuous heat .of those . mystorious shafts which pierce ;oak. and .- stone. So far as. the .effect upon, the patient, whose malady ft diagnosed by brief ex--, posure'-to the rays. is concerned,. he QII-. counters no danger,- nor wqidcl; he be ,ef- ; lccted by the- treatments of the' light pre- ' scribed by tlie ' physician. Tho real peril comes to the expert wtaithroughout the day' is subjected, to tho '. heat of the rays, ; which eventually burn.'' and wither" those who are always-.ex-- . -posed to them. Such as those- are taking . in wholesale doses the powerful remedy . used sparingly for - the patient, and even'. with tho safeguards which' are now. pro- ; vided they cannot entirely escape , the re.sults which come from the -voluntary ad- •_ minisfration. "' J • ' Just what the. effect-.of rthe contmuai : exposure to tho X-ray is upon the human .- system has not yet been fully detennined. It is like' some concentrated ' '-sunshine which Anthers and blasts the tissues-if . one practically lives -within it' as the operator does. In some cases it has pro- . duced■ a, condition" 'diagnosed as cancer- • ous. ■ Many of the best known operators : aro like men wlio have-lived a' century . or have becu .blighted, as the .musi- , cian in the . story of ''Villa Claudio," whoi • by a' draught of ancient Eilernian. was j mysteriously transformed into a" relic ot. tlie ages in a single night. ' ' In a meeting ot X-ray i ;specia3ists hern a year or so 'ago, there'were fifteen-ofi'; tho number who ' had this strange appearance of an abnormal- age, and ■ all bore either marks or. disfigurements duo to the action of tho .rays, from whidc ■ they had not been, sufficiently shielded. Members of tho . profession ; remember with regret the death of Dr. Ixhus A, Weigel, of. Eochester, ' on: .whommaiij;.. operations were.'jperfbrmed' bMbre his death in'lMiG. He 'was first stricken .in' 1901 with a cancerous growth,"'' and sewe-' -ral of the fingers of his right-hand were romoved, and finally tho whole arm and ' many muscles of-the breast..; Ho endured twenty operations before' ho: was .claimed by death. His brilliant'experiments: did much to piomoto tlie. invaluable use of tlio X-ray in diagnosis,-and many import- . ant improvements in the' application of. the revealing light, are.'dao" to him.' Ha suffered with fortitude' for the pauso of humanity, and his name is honoured by ' his fcllow-physicians, who word acquainted- with -tho unselfish•"dovotion which filled his life.;' -"v "'.:v:v; ; .

The "death-roll: throughout;-£h© -world numbers thirty victims ' .of .. the r xmseexi foe. Some wero physicians, others apparatus makers, somo makers of tho shadowgraph; yet all had laboured , well in a great cause. Many . of the: best' known experts ; who are now developing the X-ray iftro iuaim-' ed survivors of. tho early ; ;battles, . Over in Boston--there--is one'who-a..few .'days/ ago underwent. his thirtieth ..operation, A .well-known physician who is consulted, as an X-ray .diagnostician., .by . mahy< ; specialists submitted recently, to; several operations on his hands for the removal of the ravages of tho subtle agent which he has now learned so ably to control. It has.been due to the fearless work of such men as ho-that tho rays hnvq been used in 15,(100 cases without tho slightest injury .to 0110 patient due to their cfTect. Tt' has been upon the worker with this complex agency, however, tba.t misfortune and injury have often fallen, Although there is now a. better clianca for him to fend off the foe'which would prey upon him, one of tho unsung heroes of science remains in tho man. behind tho' screen.-