THE X-RAYS AS APPLIED IN THE WAR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XL, Issue 12538, 8 May 1915, Page 7

THE X-RAYS AS APPLIED IN THE WAR.

The groat European conflict has * »h reason been defined a.s a technical war'. Wliil« it is true that the great destruction wrought is duo to technical perfection it lieems as it the only redeeming .feature thai ha- presented itself also consists in- technical triumph; as -applied- tp the- sick and wounded. The demands which' the war has put- upon the X-rav process >\rc not of a new nature, save in the necessity to apply it under great disadvantages anfi the mest primitive circum-tanees. We ««■'•■ to Dr Reich enan, in the Tecluusch<' 'Eundsch.au (Berlin), an outline of how "Roentgen" laboratories of a transportable'nature are managed in. the field, aild ;m interesting description ni the mysteries el the application of XThe' faiue of a movable Roentgen. laboratory was 'SarJv recogn sod, and the well-known- electrical works of Siemens and HaMce had already built a -socalled field Roentgen ear,—another proof of the readiness of the German armv to take the field. The outfit, housed in a wagon drawn by two ■horses-, consists of a powerful gasolene motor couulecl to a dynamo. The electric current, after . passing the switch and regulation anpara'tns in the, rear of the eai\ gees to the Wehmet .interrupter an'cl' the primary fell. Tlic inductor, located -to the left. genera tes the hisrh tension discharge wirch k led to t-h'e-X-rav tube. 'tht> photographic plates.' the transparent screen,, tlie j other -utensils are kept in front ot the car: fii hi-anv. cases the gasolene motor is also used for the propulsion of the outfit when it goes under the name of the ''Roentgen-auto." The chief object of the X-ray process in the- location of bone ruptures ami the presence of foreign substances in. the human body. The work of the X-ray expert w'-bviio means at an end when it has beer! confirmed that .a bullet or something else lias penetrated ■-■lito the bodv. The most laborious task is the exact determination of tlic missile— -n other words, its localisation. . . The writer goes on to show how this ;;' clone. .... , , '■The first X;fay plate clearly, shows -the shadow of. the mis-ile and the suri rcunding bones and organs. F-iriui.ng, I for instance, that a bullet is located in ! the ni'iiihborhood of the .shoulder-blade iis however, no reason why, ihe two should be automatically adjacent. Thv X-ray nicture, to begin, is only the oroiection of all the different organs on 'a nlane. to wit. tlic photographic breast can. therefore, thanks to the diagonal X-ravs be proiected about the 1 shoulder-blade.-'ln the vast majonty of eases the location of foreign .substances in the human body i.s eftected bv the method- known as ''depth measurement." The prcces.<> is based on the o-eometrical consideration that two v'iews of the missile will be imprinted on the photbgraohic- nlate if two exposure-- arc taken in succession in such a wav that the X-rav tube is displaced a 'certain distance the second time. The lineal snaee between the two pictures on the" same nlate is the, indirect measure of how far the foreign substance has uenetrated into the body of the patient.'who, of course, is resting on the nlate for the purpose of bein-i- X-raved. On the ground of mathematical calculations the Rooe.tg.e depth-measuring instrument has now been constructed.'' The finding of the •'depth,- .however does not" finally locate the missile. The'vmsitidn of a local bodv can only be determined bv three components. The first, the -'dentil."' indicates the plane parallel to the plate in which the foreign substance is to be found. Witl'.-iu this nlane we need two other components which are obtained m the following manner. '•On auy oart of the surface ol tlie bodv surround'ng the foreign, substance we mark the so-called auxiliary point from whence in any direction the auxiliary Hue is drawn. A leaden cross, into one end of which, a .steel needle :s stuck, is used to cover the auxiliary point wh ; le the needle follows .the line. A hole in the middle of the cross fixes it w.'tli reference to tlie point. .1 he fir-t photocrauhic exposure is set with the central rav on the leaden cross', and before the second one takes place the loose steel needle is removed. In this wav we get a local exposure. . The shadow- are here wen double, which aoniies to the bene, the nubile and the cro- bin not to. the iiccd.-e shadow. The 'centre of- the first cross shadow is now connect-on with the centre c;f the shadow of the missle or, in case it i- desired to mo'i-nro the base and the nohit, with both Hie leimth c/thes.. ,-oiiuectiiig line.-, as we I a- 'i-he aimie which iSey include with the -hallowed Hue of the steel needle, are measured, and the length ol the fine - is multinl'icd with the so-ealied •'lateral constant." indicated on the depth-measuring instrument. The resultimi figure and the angle dip-el'v tell how many centimetres the mis-ile is" located froin the auxiliary point in the direction indicated' by the angle. ' Dr Rieehonan goes on to say that it would be verv difficult to make practical' use of these figures if the final pha-e of the nroeess wove not lel'tto another measu'riu". instruineut. Tins is the indicator of Dr AYcski', the iippncat;on of which on the human body ;-

made in the following way:— ••The leg on the end of the horizontal indicator arm is adjusted on the auxiliary noint and the arm itself brought' V a line with the auxiliary •line which can be controlled by letting down the vertical leg attached to the hcri//-nta! arm. The second movable arm i.s then adjusted to the -angle, ol Ihe former X-rav exposure?, moving its vertical 'leg lengthwise by as many centimetre- as the dent h-iucasu ring instrument indicates. At this point the vertical leu is let down, until it touches the skin of the patient. The missile i.s located plumb under th:,s point at the measured 1 dentil. The result is the exast anatonvcal location." \