Radium, X-Rays, and the Living Cell

Abstract

THE authors' object is “to describe some of the main experimental facts which have been established as to the effects of the X-rays and the rays from radium upon living cells.” The first part of the book is devoted to physics, and contains a trustworthy account of the properties of the X-rays, primary and secondary, and of the radio-active substances, with the characters of the various forms of radiation and the changes brought about by their action. The measurement of ionisation is described, the distinction between “hard” and “soft” rays—recognised clinically by all radiologists—is explained on physical lines, and the methods of measuring doses of X-rays are discussed. The empirical method of Sabouraud of judging the dose by the change of colour of a pastille is still in vogue, and those who use the method are aware that they must keep all the conditions constant (state of vacuum of the tube, length of the parallel spark gap, reading of the milliamperemetre, etc.); the authors are wise, however, to point out anew that the same change of colour, if produced by soft rays in one case and by hard rays in another, may give rise to results widely different in the two cases.