Scientific.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10501, 23 November 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

Scientific.

, - » THE VALUE OP BONTGEN BAYS. '^* Mx J. Hall-Edwards, who was. iur- . t geon radiographer to'the. 'imperial Teoj- 4 manry, Hospital,. South- Africa, describ- t ed some of 'his experiences' as 'to- the t value of Eontgen rays in warfareat the t recent; meeting of the "British 1 medical « Association. He "found .that the plan 1 of -obtaining the current for charging- a the accumulators, from a dynamo con- s neoted with a belt to a foot motor 'of 1 the' bicycle type was altogether im- c practicable, as no one 'could- work rthe' c bicycle arrangement long enough to-be ' t of much We. A "small .pa engine was ', I used', instead of .'the foot power, and x worked very satisfactorily. As to. the i 6 results' of the introduction of Kontgen v s rayß" into military, surgery, Mr Hall; r \ Edwardsremarks:— '^With.the, v friendly . c aid.ol these rays we are enabled to re- . i cord the effects of small-bore < under the various conditions which oc- ( < cur in actual warfare. We are enabled i to localise the position of a bullet or 3 other foreign body " witlr absolutely ' 1 scientific accuracy; and, if 'our present < kno>ledg© be Wed, to its fullest extent,. 1 we can see the condition of the parts 1 as plainly as we could do were the soft j tissues composed ' only of transparent • gelatine. These facts being recognised, 1 it is THisy to see. that the^appUcation'of ; the rays ta military surgery must pro- , duce results of the greatest possible , value for future ■ guidance, ' and that 3 their "complete- "application in a great wart— such as we are at present en-/- , gaged in— must prove of inestimableservice in increasing our knowledge upon this most important subject. Many of the time-worn,.' useless and dangerJ ous methods of finding the whereabouts of hidden, bullets may now be forgotten; for with these rays we have at our disposal an aseptic, scientific and absolutely accurate method of localisation, which may be improved, but which even now is as near_ perfection as our present knowledge can make it..<. There can be little doubt that, in the face of the' new facts brought to light by means of these rays,' military surgery will have to be "rewritten, and the advance made will mark an epoch in its progress.'"— Nature. • '