Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 134, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 June 1911 — SEE INTO THE LUNGS [ARTICLE]

SEE INTO THE LUNGS

X-RAYB INVALUABLE AID IN FIGHTING TUBERCULOSIS. V I By This Means Presence of the Dread Disease May Be Ascertained In Its . Incipiency and its Progress Checked. Most people nowadays have learned that successful warfare on the “white scourge” consumption depends mainly on an early and correct diagnosis. As the longs are invisible, ordinarily tuberculosis may not manifest Its presence with certainty until the disease is too far advanced to be controlled by any means now known. Recently new hope has been given to victims of this dread disease by Instruments in the X-ray apparatus which make the instrument capable of revealing to its operator the very earliest appearance of the germs of consumption. “ V s So accurate have been the results obtained that a careful X-ray examination of the chest is now the routine treatment for all new lung cases, the symptoms of which give the slightest difficulty to the examining physicians in the receiving wards. The patient takes his place off-a bicycle seat fixed on a pedestal. Closd to hlB back, in a large blade box which can be raised or lowered, or swung to one side or the other, by a delicate system of balancing weights; is the X-ray tube. All but a small area of its luminous surface is protected by a lead glass screen, so that only a narrow stream of light falls on the patient’s back. When the patient Is in position the examiner puts on a pair of thick lead glass spectacles to protect his eyes, pulls over his hands a large pair of lead impregnated gloves, and wheels Into position between himself and the patient a thick lead screen four feet high. With a movement of his foot he touches .a button and the room is in absolute darkness. Then he waits ten minutes until his eyes get ueed to the darkness, for experience has taught that after the eyes have become thoroughly accustomed to the presence of White light the sensibility of the retina to the light of the fluorescent X-ray screen is increased from fifty to two hundred times. With another touch of the foot the X-ray current is turned on and the bones and tissues of the patient’s chest are visible on the screen. The upper parts of the lungs, the points most likely to be attacked first by tuberculosis, are then carefully studied. The patient Is told to empty his lungs of air by slorwly exhaling his breath. The lung tissues become more pervious to the rays and the whole surface brightens in color. The failure of any portion of the lung to brighten evenly with the rest of the tissues shows some abnormality and strongly suggests deficient air entry to the part, one of the earliest signs of consumption.