Editorial

Abstract

EditorialPublished Online:29 May 2014https://doi.org/10.1259/0007-1285-6-63-129SectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail AboutAbstractThe question whether X rays of different wave-lengths produce similar or different biological effects is a fundamental one for radiation therapy. The answer, if a single answer can indeed be given, must at the moment be full of boubts and reservations, and it is questionable whether any generally satisfactory reply can be made. A number of publications have recently appeared on the subject, and it is possibly of interest to draw attention to one or two of them here.There can be no doubt that the discussion of the subject should be severely limited at the outset by the imposition of the restriction that one definite biological object only shall be studied, that the various physical factors shall be strictly controlled so as to make the conditions of irradiation as strictly comparable as possible, and the inflexible resolution formed to resist the temptation to easy generalisation. An interesting example of this kind of work is to be found in Strahlentherapie, 46.1 p. 137. Glocker and Reuss have contrived their researches on the effects of X rays on the growth of bean seedlings. The results are set forth on terms of the percentage damage, that is the percentage of the total number irradiated which shows irreparable damage to the growing tip, this percentage being plotted against the total dose of X rays measured in r. Next article FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Volume 6, Issue 63March 1933Pages: 129-192 © The British Institute of Radiology History Published onlineMay 29,2014 Metrics Download PDF