A REPORT—1896. 
the term and penetrability to these emanations. The glasses of a pair of 
spectacles may arrest them while their wooden and leathern case allows 
them to pass almost unchecked. Yet they produce, whether directly or 
indirectly, the same effects as light upon a photographic plate. As a 
general rule the denser any object is the greater obstacle does it oppose 
to the rays. Hence, as bone is denser than flesh, if the hand or other 
part of the body is placed above the sensitive film enclosed in a case of 
wood or other light material at a suitable distance from the source of the 
rays, while they pass with the utmost facility through the uncovered 
parts of the lid of the box and powerfully affect the plate beneath, they 
are arrested to a large extent by the bones, so that the plate is little 
acted upon in the parts opposite to them, while the portions correspond- 
ing to the muscles and other soft parts are influenced in an intermediate 
degree. Thus a picture is obtained in which the bones stand out in sharp 
relief among the flesh, and anything abnormal in their shape or position 
is clearly displayed. 
I need hardly point out what important aid this must give to the 
surgeon. As an instance, I may mention a case which occurred in the 
practice of Mr. Howard Marsh. He was called to see a severe injury of 
the elbow, in which the swelling was so great as to make it impossible for 
him by ordinary means of examination to decide whether he had to deal 
with a fracture or a dislocation. If it were the latter, a cure would be 
effected by the exercise of violence which would be not only useless but 
most injurious if a bone was broken. By the aid of the Réntgen rays a 
photograph was taken in which the bone of the upper arm was clearly 
seen displaced forwards on those of theforearm. The diagnosis being thus 
established, Mr. Marsh proceeded to reduce the dislocation ; and his suc- 
cess was proved by another photograph which showed the bones in their 
natural relative position. 
The common metals, such as lead, iron, and copper, being still denser 
than the osseous structures, these rays can show a bullet embedded in a 
bone or a needle lodged about a joint. At the last conversazione of the 
Royal Society a picture produced by the new photography displayed 
with perfect distinctness through the bony framework of the chest a half- 
penny low down in a boy’s gullet. It had been there for six months, 
causing uneasiness at the pit of the stomach during swallowing ; but 
whether the coin really remained impacted, and if so, what was its position, 
was entirely uncertain till the Réntgen rays revealed it. Dr. Macintyre 
of Glasgow, who was the photographer, informs me that when the presence 
of the halfpenny had been thus demonstrated, the surgeon in charge of the 
case made an attempt to extract it, and although this was not successful 
in its immediate object, it had the effect of dislodging the coin ; for a sub- 
sequent photograph by Dr. Macintyre not only showed that it had disap- 
peared from the gullet, but also, thanks to the wonderful penetrating 
power which the rays had acquired in his hands, proved that it had not 
