"XRay Filter"
In return for the slight cancer relief they have effected, for the innumerable swallowed forks, wandering needles, fractured bones, molar cavities they have located, Röntgen or X-rays have levied heavy toll on the flesh of Science. Last week, the press carried accounts of Dr. Frederick H. Baetjer, Professor of Röntgenology at Johns Hopkins University, who has undergone 52 digi- tal amputations in 16 years as the result of continuous work with X-rays. Burns from malignant constituents of the rays induce a disintegration of the tissues called radiodermitis. Dr. Baetjer's sacrifices to his work now total eight fingers.
Also, last week, the French Academy of Sciences−and the scientific world in general−was advised by one of its members, M. Daniel Berthelot, that two friends of his, Messieurs J. Risler and P. Mondain, had a preventative and a cure for radiodermitis. Noting that the long-waved infra-red heat rays are antagonistic to shorter-waved constituents of the Xray, such as the potent ultra-violet*Risler and Mondain had contrived a "ray filter" of plastic material, penetrable only by the infra-red and yellow rays. The long-waved rays thus filtered out were then applied to living tissues that had been exposed to the destructive influence of a complete Xray. The tissue showed no ill effects. Cases of radiodermitis, next treated, were declared "completely cured" after three or four applications.
The significance of the discovery (if valid) is that it will open a new field for cancer-cure experiments, using the X-ray purged of its injurious radiations.
*Of the many types of vibrations in the ether about them, the unaided human senses can perceive only a small portion. The spectrum of visible light runs from deep violet, with a wavelength of 16 millionths of an inch, down to deep red, with waves 28 millionths of an inch long. On the "ultra" side of this spectrum, occur the ultraviolet rays with waves 1 millionth of an inch; then a range of little-known shorter vibrations; then the famed X-rays; then, shortest of all known rays, the gamma rays given off by radium. On the infra or long wave side of visible light come infrared, then longer heat waves (16 mil- lionths to 12 thousandths of an inch), then Hertzian or radio waves, measuring from a few metres to several miles in length. The longest waves in the spectrum are the slow pulsations of the alternating current, often several thousand miles in length.
Sound waves, to which the ear is sensitive, do not belong in the spectrum of ether vibrations. They are disturbances among the parti- cles of the air. In a vacuum, there can be no sound.