Photographing the Unseen 



photography has suddenly arisen which can 

 photograph the bones, and, before long, the or- 

 gans of the human body ; that a light has been 

 found which can penetrate, so as to make a pho- 

 tographic record, through everything from a 

 purse or a pocket to the walls of a room or a 

 house, is news which cannot fail to startle every- 

 body. That the eye of the physician or surgeon, 

 long baffled by the skin, and vainly seeking to 

 penetrate the unfortunate darkness of the human 

 body, is now to be supplemented by a camera, 

 making all the parts of the human body as 

 visible, in a way, as the exterior, appears cer- 

 tainly to be a greater blessing to humanity than 

 even the Listerian antiseptic system of surgery; 

 and its benefits must inevitably be greater than 

 those conferred by Lister, great as the latter 

 have been. Already, in the few weeks since 

 Rontgen's announcement, the results of surgical 

 operations under the new system are growing 

 voluminous. In Berlin, not only new bone frac- 

 tures are being immediately photographed, but 

 joined fractures, as well, in order to examine the 

 results of recent surgical work. In Vienna, 

 imbedded bullets are being photographed, in- 

 stead of being probed for, and extracted with 

 comparative ease. In London, a wounded 

 sailor, completely paralyzed, whose injury was a 

 mystery, has been saved by the photographing 

 of an object imbedded in the spine, which, upon 

 extraction, proved to be a small knife-blade. 

 Operations for malformations, hitherto obscure, 

 91 



