CHAPTER XXIII 



VALUE OF THE RONTGEN RAYS IN DIAGNOSIS 



The discovery of Professor Rontgen has proved of very 

 considerable practical value in surgical practice, not only in 

 the field of human surgery, but also in that of the animal 

 world. Of veterinary patients there is none to which it can 

 be so exactly and easily applied as in the case of the dog and 

 cat. The small and convenient size of these animals, together 

 with the safety with which they can be secured and anses- 

 thetized (if required), make them ideal subjects for X-ray 

 work ; whilst the comparatively small cost of a skiagraph 

 and the tolerably general distribution of Roentgen ray 

 appliances in the larger towns has made the application of 

 this aid to a more certain diagnosis within the reach of most 

 veterinary surgeons who have cases about whose exact lesions 

 there is room for doubt. '^ 



Of course, all doubtful diagnoses cannot be tested by the 

 use of the screen or the taking of a skiagraph, and the aid of 

 the technical expert should always be sought to explain to 

 those who use it for the first time the normal and abnormal 

 appearances of the photographic record ; but, as the cases 

 here illustrated will show, in certain lesions the exact mischief 

 can be demonstrated beyond all possibility of doubt. That 

 the person upon whom the diagnosis depends must be 



1 Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics, vol. ix., pp. 58 

 and 337. 



357 



