The Scope of Radiology

Abstract

The history of every branch of science is a story of successive discoveries, some accidental, but most of them resulting from much deliberate and laborious experimental effort coupled with logical analysis and synthesis of existing knowledge. This is true of physics, of chemistry, and all the other sciences, but it is also true, at least to a very large extent, of the arts. The discovery of X-rays by Röntgen has often been cited as an example of an accidental find, but, as in most cases of the kind, this was far from being an accident, at least in the sense in which the word is generally understood. A great deal of antecedent work had been carried out on phosphorescence and allied phenomena incident to the behavior of gases in vacuo, and Röntgen himself had long been interested in this phase of physics. Had he not had the knowledge of such work and had he not been so keenly interested in it as to have spent several years delving into some of its secrets, it is not likely that he would have come down to us as the discoverer of X-rays. Indeed, he was so well prepared that when he observed the curious phenomena produced by these unknown rays he realized at once that he was dealing with something new and, instead of contenting himself with idle speculation, proceeded to investigate this new agent with the utmost thoroughness. This is quite obvious to one who reads, even for the first time, his three original communications. But from the discovery of a new agent to its actual scientific application there must ever exist a period of trial and error, and it is through this period that the scope and limitations of such agents are ascertained and established. As far as X-rays are concerned we are still passing through this period. Radium rays, having been discovered so soon after Röntgen's announcement of the X-rays, are placed in the same period as far as our general knowledge of them is concerned. For ages, thinking men the world over were familiar with some of the therapeutic effects produced by sunlight. Even in the days of the Egyptians and later of the Greeks, sunlight was actively made use of and recommended for certain diseases. But until twenty years ago we did not understand how sunlight accomplished some of its miracles. Even such men as Rollier, who was working with it on a large scale and whose results astonished the medical profession, were then unable to specify the mechanism by which such remarkable effects were brought about. As the result of the discovery of radiant energy and the concentration of scientific thought and experiment in this direction we have gradually come to learn at least the chief element in the action of the sun on living tissues. Therefore, radiology, if it means anything, means that science which deals with radiant energy. This necessarily involves, not only X-rays, radium rays, and ultraviolet rays, but the entire range of the spectrum.