Biological Effects of Very High Frequency Electro-magnetic Radiation

Abstract

THE biologic effects of radiation in general are properly regarded as an investigative field of major importance. In the past, certain regions in the whole spectrum of radiation have been inaccessible to investigation because generators of frequencies corresponding to these regions have been lacking. The advent of short wave radio-communication, brought about by the development, in the last decade, of the vacuum tube oscillator and the associated circuits, has permitted the generation of electro-magnetic radiation of frequencies which may be varied at will from less than 100 to about 400,000,000 cycles per second. Moreover, the radiations generated in this way consist of continuous waves of relatively pure form, sharply emitted at the frequency to which the circuit is tuned. In this respect the oscillations differ from those generated in the usual high frequency apparatus used for therapeutic purposes. Here the oscillations are produced by condenser discharge across a spark gap. Such oscillations have a l...