The Use of the "Grenz" (Infra-Roentgen) Rays in Dermatologic Conditions

That the roentgen rays constitute the most valuable single remedy in dermatologie therapy is now generally recognized. Great uses have also been found for radium and ultraviolet rays in the treatment of patients with diseases of the skin. There are now about eighty such diseases that are more or less amenable to roentgen-ray treatment. Through long years of experience and investigations, the technic has been improved to a great extent by the dermatologists, among whom may be mentioned Pusey and MacKee of America, Sabouraud and Noire of France, and Holzknecht, Schultz and Kienboek of Germany. The penetration of the roentgen rays or gamma rays depends on their wave length. The usual wave length for treatment today ranges between 0.6 and 0.1 angstrom units. Table 1 shows diagrammatically the relationship between the wave lengths and the tensions (voltages). In reviewing the literature, we found that Schultz, Zehden, Stern and others had experimented with soft roentgen rays, but their writings showed that the wave lengths they used must have been less than 1 angstrom unit. They reported using a quality of 1 Wehnelt degree. They used so-called skin tubes, which were sold by various manufacturers at that time. These tubes allowed the longer waves which could not get through the ordinary glass wall to pass through, but the