First adequate account of the physiological reactions leading to fatal anaphylactic shock.

The work of Auer and Lewis (see No. 2600) led Meitzer to the conclusion that bronchial asthma was due to anaphylaxis, although he did not appreciate that not all cases of asthma were so caused.

Schultz-Dale test for anaphylaxis. See also No. 2600.5

Noon and Freeman introduced the treatment of hay fever by means of injections of pollen extract.

See No. 2600.3.

See No. 2600.2. Dale concluded that histamine induced hypersensitivity reactions.

The concept of atopy had its origin in the report by Cooke and Vander Veer in 1916.

English translation, 1919.

Prausnitz–Küstner reaction. These workers demonstrated antibodies in the blood of persons suffering from atopic allergic diseases. They produced local passive sensitization by intracutaneous injection of serum from a hypersensitive subject. Prausnitz spent his later years in England, where he adopted the surname Prausnitz Giles. Translated by Prausnitz in Clinical aspects of immunology (P.G.H.Gell & R.R.A. Coombs, eds.) Oxford, 1962, pp. 808-16.

Lewis postulated that a histamine-like substance (“H-substance”) was responsible for the anaphylaxis symptom-complex. See also The blood-vessels of the human skin and their responses, 1927 (No. 797).

In his important studies of asthma, Storm van Leeuwen demonstrated that in the great majority of patients allergens are the cause of the condition and also that patients are sensitive to mold spores. He experimented with an allergen-proof chamber and showed the benefit of high altitude to asthmatics.

Sulzberger showed that allergens gaining access to the epidermis are processed there in some manner (Langerhans cells?) that determines their allergenicity. See No. 2576.02

Introduction of the method.

Detection of the release of histamines into the circulation during anaphylactic reaction. Thereafter histamine was identified as Lewis’s “H-substance.”

Proof that inhaled allergens can reach the skin in a quantity and quality capable of eliciting urticarial reactions. With W.T. Vaughn. Coca and Sulzberger coined the term, “atopic dermatitis.”

Proof that allergens that produce urticarial reactions can penetrate the skin from external contact and thus produce the reaction that the authors named “contact urticaria.” With F. Herrmann and R. Baer.

Galen’s classification of tumors persisted for more than 1,000 years. He considered neoplasms to be due to an excess of black bile, which solidified in certain sites. He advocated purges to dissolve the black bile, and if these were unsuccessful, the knife. He was not familiar with internal tumors. Critical edition and English translation by J. Reedy, Diss, (not published,) University of Michigan, 1968.

Le Dran discarded the humoral conception of cancer for the first time. He regarded cancer as a local disease in its early stage and knew that it spread via the lymphatics to regional nodes, and from there into the general circulation. He described with great clarity the path of metastasis in breast carcinoma, including involvement of the lungs.

First clinical report (pp. 30-31) of an association between tobacco and cancer, in this case “polypusses” of the nose caused by taking snuff. Hill was a distinguished botanist and apothecary, although regarded by some as a quack. See D.E. Redmond, Jr., Tobacco and cancer: the first clinical report. New Eng. J. Med., (1970), 282, 18-23.

Digital facsimile of the second edition, also published in 1761, from the Internet Archive at this link.

Peyrilhe was the first to attempt an experimental study to determine the nature of cancer. He injected fluid from human mammary cancer into a dog; however, the dog howled and aggravated his housekeeper, who drowned it. Peyrilhe recognized for the first time the essential unity of the many different forms of cancer. French edition, 1776. English translation, London, 1777. Digital facsimile of the 1774 edition from Google Books at this link.

Includes the first description of occupational cancer. By describing chimney sweeps” cancer of the scrotum, Pott was the first to trace the origin of a type of cancer to a specific external cause. The above work also includes his description of senile gangrene, sometimes referred to as “Pott’s gangrene”.

Soemmerring noted an association between pipe smoking and cancer of the lip (p. 109).

Récamier was the first to recognize the process of metastasis. He also described for the first time invasion of veins by cancer.

Contains the first illustrations of microscopic sections of cancer; however, Home drew no worthwhile conclusion from his microscopic studies. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

The first North American book on tumors, with 16 hand-colored plates by David Claypoole Johnston (1799-1865).

This classic work showed that Müller realized the necessity of the cell theory for the comprehension of the nature of cancer. He recognized cells, their nuclei and nucleoli, and could distinguish various types of tumors microscopically. Only Lieferung 1 of the book was published; C. West translated it into English in 1840. Improved translation with important commentary in L.J. Rather, P. Rather, & J.B. Frerichs, Johannes Müller and the nineteenth-century origins of tumor cell theory, Canton, Mass, Science History Publications, [1986].

The earliest account of the recognition of fragments of malignant tissue. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link. 

While still a young man Virchow founded the above journal. He wrote a fine paper on cancer and suggested that the exciting cause is local irritation.

First experimental transplantation of tumors.

Hannover coined the word “epithelioma.” He did not recognize its malignant character but maintained that metastases were produced by cancer cells arriving by way of the blood stream. Translated into German as Das Epithelioma, Leipzig: L. Voss, 1852.

Although tumours were perhaps his greatest interest, Virchow never completed this work which was intended to have 30 lectures. Instead he stopped with the 25th lecture, on carcinoma, probably because of the vigorous attack which Remak and others were making on his conception of the histogenesis of epithelioma. Virchow’s 25th lecture records one of his mistakes – his theory of the connective-tissue origin of carcinoma. So great was Virchow’s influence that this error was not generally recognized until the work of Waldeyer (see No. 2620).

Thiersch, Professor of Surgery at Erlangen, and inventor of the method of skin grafting which bears his name, also made an important contribution to the knowledge of the histogenesis of cancer. He disproved Virchow’s theory of the connective-tissue origin of cancer, and advanced evidence of its epithelial cell origin. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Modern surgical treatment of cancer is based upon principles laid down by Moore. For cancer of the breast he showed that recurrence was not due to the development of an entirely new tumor because of constitutional susceptibility, as was then generally theorized, but to incomplete removal of the original tumor. He insisted that the entire breast be carefully removed in every case of breast cancer.

Waldeyer confirmed the work of Thiersch (No. 2618) on the epithelial origin of cancer, disproving Virchow’s theory (No. 2617). So great was the authority of the latter that it was not until the appearance of the second of the above papers that Virchow’s error was finally recognized.

Novinsky successfully transplanted two tumors in dogs. German translation in Zbl. med. Wiss., 1876, 14, 790-91. A fuller report appeared in his thesis K voprosu o privivanii zlokachestvennich novoobrazovanii (eksperimentalnoi issledovanii). [On the question of inoculation of malignant neoplasms (experimental investigations)]. St. Petersburg, 1877.

A tumor transplant from dog to dog was reported by Wehr.

Hanau successfully transplanted cancer in mammals.

“Russell’s bodies.”

In 1889 Morau transferred epitheliomata in mice and by 1893 had carried his experiments through 17 generations, the first systematic survey of tumor-host relationships from a purely biological viewpoint.

Kundrat separated lymphosarcoma (“Kundrat’s disease”) from other malignant tumors involving the lymphatic system.

In June 1899 Sjögren was the first successfully to use Roentgen rays in the treatment of cancer.

Loeb successfully transplanted cystic sarcoma of the thyroid in rats. He established the fact that growth of the transplant occurred through proliferation of its peripheral cells.

“With this book the microscopical epoch in the evolution of the knowledge of cancer may be said to have been brought to a close” (Haagensen).

Frieben reported the carcinogenic effect of x-rays in man.

Hansemann originated the theory of anaplasia.

Records the first successful employment of radium in the treatment of cancer.

Perthes was among the first to study the inhibitory effect of x rays on carcinoma; he was a pioneer in radiotherapy.

Jensen carried rat sarcoma through as many as 40 generations of rodents without change in microscopic structure. His classic study discredited the theory of the infectivity of cancer, and established its inoculability. See also Z. Krebsforsch., 1909, 7, 45-54.

Schmidt supported the theory of the hematogenous origin of carcinoma metastases.

SeeNo. 2624.

Ribbert was the modern protagonist of the theory of the embryonal origin of cancer.

First experimental study of the heredity of mouse cancer.

“Schloffer’s tumor” – a rare inflammatory pseudotumor of the abdomen. It usually appears several years after abdominal surgery, including herniotomy, or trauma.

Using the Rous chicken sarcoma, Carrel and Burrows were the first to grow tumor tissue in vitro.

Original description of the chicken sarcoma (Rous sarcoma). Rous demonstrated that sarcomatous tumors in hens could be transmitted to normal hens by the injection of cell-free filtrates (virus) of the original tumor. The Rous Sarcoma Virus was the first oncovirus discovered.

Fifty-five years later, in 1966 Rous shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Charles Huggins "for his discovery of tumor-inducing viruses and his work on cancer."

Experimental production of malignant tumors by means of x rays.

A serum reaction, employed by Freund and Kaminer in 1910 for the diagnosis of cancer.

Experimental production of cancer by the injection of tar as a byproduct of the manufacture of coal gas.

Fibiger demonstrated that the roundworm, which he called Spiroptera carcinoma (but is correctly named Gongylonema neoplasticum), could cause stomach cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) in rats and mice. His experimental results were later proven to be a case of "mistaken conclusion."

In 1926 Fibiger was awarded the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discovery of the Spiroptera carcinoma."

Demonstration of the influence of an internal secretion on the development of spontaneous cancer. Castration of female mice of a strain in which mammary cancer was frequent reduced its incidence and delayed its growth.

First experimental production of tar cancer in rabbits by painting with tar products. This was the first proof of chemical carcinogenesis.

Fourth edition, 1940.

Broders’s classification of tumors, an index of malignancy.

Proof that cancer can be caused by a parasite, Cysticercus fasciolaris, the larval stage of Taenia crassicolis. With M. R. Curtis and G. L. Rohdenberg. See also Proc. N.Y. path. Soc., 1920, 20, 149-75.

Kennaway produced carcinogenic tars by submitting acetylene or isoprene to high temperatures in an atmosphere of hydrogen, thus proving that some carcinogens are pure hydrocarbons.

Gye advanced the theory that an ultramicroscopic virus combined with an intrinsic chemical factor were concerned in the production of the Rous sarcoma.

Barnard supported, with photomicrographs, Gye’s theory concerning the origin of cancer.

Bendien test for the diagnosis of cancer. He published books in German and English on this subject in 1931. Modification by E. C. Lowe, Brit. med. J., 1932, 2, 1060.

In his important studies of the metabolism of tumors, Warburg was first to observe that malignant tissue utilizes glucose by glycolysis, whether or not oxygen is available (aerobic glycolysis). English translation, 1930.

By selective breeding over a period of 15 years, Slye produced generations of mice absolutely resistant to, or particularly susceptible to, cancer. She demonstrated that resistance is a Mendelian dominant and susceptibility a recessive, either of which can be bred into or out of susceptible or resistant generations, according to the laws of genetics. Her earlier papers are in J. med. Res., 1914, 25, 281; 1915, 27, 159; J Cancer Res., 1916, 1, 479, 503; 1921, 6, 139; 1922, 7, 107.

RF-powered linear accelerator.

Important study of the age and sex incidence of cancer.

Discovery of the carcinogenic properties of dibenzanthracene compounds. With I. Hieger, E. L. Kennaway, and W. V. Mayneord.

“Pancoast’s tumor.”

Shope papilloma virus (SPV), a benign infectious tumor due to a virus. This was the first mammalian tumor virus discovered. Full text from PubMedCentral at this link.

See also Shope, "Infectious Papillomatosis of Rabbits with a note on the histopathology". The Journal of Experimental Medicine, 58 (1933) 607–624, the full text of which is also available from PubMedCentral.

Demonstration of the carcinogenic effect of ovarian hormone.

Bittner’s “milk factor,” the murine mammary tumor involved in the transmission of cancer in mice. See also Amer. J. clin. Path., 1937, 7, 430-35.

With L. H. Stickland and K. I. Connal.

Betatron.

Continued as Kerst, "The acceleration of elecrons by magnetic induction," Phys. Rev., 60 (1941) 47-52. Digital facsimile of the 1941 paper at this link.

Inhibition of tumor growth by a folic acid concentrate. With R. Lewisohn, D. Laszlo. These workers later (Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. N. Y., 1944, 56, 144-45) obtained similar results with xanthopterin.

Administration of synthetic estrogens in advanced mammary cancer caused regression of tumors. With J. M. Watkinson, E. Paterson, and P. C. Koller.

Linear ion accelerator.

In 1968 Alvarez received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his decisive contributions to elementary particle physics, in particular the discovery of a large number of resonance states, made possible through his development of the technique of using hydrogen bubble chamber and data analysis."

Widely considered the first uses of chemotherapy for the treatment of malignant diseases.

Test for diagnosis of cancer. With B. Halperin and S. H. Libert.

With L. K. Diamond, R. D. Mercer, R. F. Sylvester, and V. A. Wolff.

Isolation of polymavirus (papovavirus). With B. E. Eddy, A. M. Gochenour, N. G. Borgese, and G E. Grubbs.

Cyclophosphamide. With F. Bourseaux and N. Brock.

Burkitt’s lymphoma (African lymphoma), first described in detail by Sir Albert Cook, a medical missionary, but not published by him.

Polyomavirus (papovavirus) shown to be capable of transforming cells in culture.  Full text from PubMedCentral at this link.

Clinical use of vinblastine (for Hodgkin’s disease and other lymphomas) and vincristine (for acute leukemias of childhood). With J. G. Armstrong, M. Gorman, and J. P. Burnett. Preliminary communication in J. Lab. clin. Med., 1959, 54, 830.

Order of authorship in the original publication: Epstein, Barr. Discovery of the Epstein-Barr virus, a human herpes virus causing infectious mononucleosis, and implicated in Burkitt’s lymphoma and other forms of cancer. The Epstein-Barr virus was the first human cancer-causing virus discovered. This was the authors' first publication of the discovery. A few issues of Nature later they followed this paper with a second paper, No. 2660.18.

Order of authorship in the original publication: Epstein, Achong, Barr. Presence of herpes-like virus particles in Burkitt’s tumor cells reported. The Epstein-Barr virus was the first human cancer-causing virus to be discovered.

Directional scintillation detector probe. Cassen assembled the first automated scanning system, comprised of a motor driven scintillation detector coupled to a relay printer. The scanner was initially used to image thyroid glands after the administration of radioiodine.  Later, with the development of organ-specific radiopharmaceuticals, the scanner was widely used during the late 50s until the early 70s to image body organs. With L. Curtis and C. W. Reed.

Acta path. microbiol. scand., Suppl. 174 (Pts. 1-2), 209, 247, 261.

In 1970 Baltimore and Temin discovered that certain viruses that have their genes in the form of RNA can copy the RNA "backward" into DNA in infected cells. The enyzme, reverse transcriptase, enables the manufacture of specific proteins for use as medicines.

Baltimore, who was the only author of this paper, shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with R. Dulbecco and H. M. Temin "for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell."

Discovery of reverse transcriptase. "In 1969, Temin and a postdoctoral fellow, Satoshi Mizutani, began searching for the enzyme that was responsible for the phenomenon of viral RNA being transferred into proviral DNA. Later that year, Temin showed that certain tumor viruses carried the enzymatic ability to reverse the flow of information from RNA back to DNA using reverse transcriptase. Reverse transcriptase was also independently and simultaneously discovered in association with the murine leukemia virus by David Baltimore at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.... Both scientists completed their initial work with RNA-dependent DNA polymerase with the Rous sarcoma virus." (Wikipedia article on Howard Martin Temin, accessed 3-2020).

In 1975 Temin shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with David Baltimore and Renato Dulbecco "for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell."

Combination chemotherapy with nitrogen mustard (mustine hydrochloride), vincristine sulphate, procarbazine hydrochloride and prednisone, introduced in 1964 for the treatment of advanced Hodgkin’s disease. With A. A. Serpick and P. P. Carbone.

Epstein-Barr virus as a cause of Burkitt’s lymphoma. With D. DeChairo and G. Miller.

In 1959 Biggs moved to the Houghton Poultry Research Station (HPRS) to form and head a unit to study lymphoid tumor conditions of the domestic fowl. He gave the name Marek’s disease to one of the tumor conditions, after the Hungarian veterinarian József Marek. Biggs and his group determined that it was caused by a herpesvirus, and later developed a vaccine for the disease. With six co-authors.

In 1975 Dulbecco shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with David Baltimore and Howard Martin Temin "for their discoveries concerning the interaction between tumour viruses and the genetic material of the cell."

Discovery of the first “oncogene.

In 1989 Varmus and Bishop shared the Nobel Prize for in Physiology or Medicine "for their discovery of the cellular origin of retroviral oncogenes."

Cytosine arabinoside, a pyramidine antagonist, used in acute myeloblastic anemia.

Chlorambucil (a nitrogen mustard) used in the chemotherapy of cancer. With J. R. Roberts and W. J. C. Ross.

TEPA. With five co-authors.

The sensitivity of tumour cells to x rays shown to be much enhanced when irradiated in a well-oxygenated medium. With A. D. Conger, M. Ebert, S. Hornsey, and O. C. A. Scott.

Melphalan (a nitrogen mustard) later used in the chemotherapy of cancer.

Synthesis of 5-fluorouracil. With eight co-authors.

Exhaustive and accurate review of all the then-available information on cancer. Digital facsimile from Google Books at this link.

English translation of vol. 1 as The science of cancerous disease from the earliest times to the present. With a new introduction by Saul Jarcho. Canton, MNA: Science History Publications, 1989.

Divided into author and subject sections.

Includes a short, well-documented history.

Galen's system of medicine based on the minutiae of pulse variations persisted into the 18th century.

First Renaissance Latin translation by Niccolò Leoniceno of Vicenza of Galen's work on physical diagnosis.

This volume of Galen’s selected works includes Thomas Linacre’s Latin translation of De symptomatum differentiis.

The most complete medieval treatise on urinoscopy, translated from the Greek by Ambrogio Leone  (1458/9- 1525) professor of medicine in Naples). Johannes Actuarius, the last of the great Byzantine physicians, was first to use a graduated glass for its examination. Actuarius or Actarius (Greek: ἀκτουάριος), was a title applied to officials of varying functions in the late Roman and Byzantine empires. By 12th century, or perhaps in the 11th century, the term came to be applied to prominent physicians, possibly those attached to the imperial court. By the 16th century the title Actuarius was conflated as Joannes's last name. Digital facsimile of the 1519 edition from Google Books at this link. Partial English translation in No. 2241.

The first treatise on feigned diseases.

The chief value of this work is in its cautious revelation of the principles of construction of various instruments that Santorio had invented, including a hygrometer, a pendulum for measuring pulse rate, a syringe for extracting bladder stones, and a bathing bed. The instruments are depicted in woodcut diagrams, the earliest illustrations of Santorio’s instruments. For the first description of Santorio’s pulse-clock see No. 572.1.

Before watches had hands to record the seconds, Floyer invented a pulse-watch which divided the minute. He was the first to count the pulse with the aid of a watch and to make regular observations on the pulse-rate. The second volume contains the first English translation of Cleyer’s book on Chinese pulse-lore, Specimen medicinae Sinicae. (see No. 6492).

First important work on clinical thermometry, and the only scientific treatment of the subject before Wunderlich.

The greatness of Auenbrugger’s discovery of the value of immediate percussion of the chest as a diagnostic measure was not recognized until many years after he first published. His little book met with a cold reception, while a French translation by Rozière de la Chassagne in 1770 attracted little notice. But Auenbrugger lived to see the appearance in 1808 of J. N. Corvisart’s classic translation of the book, after which the value of percussion was universally recognized. It should be noted that recognition did not occur until nearly 50 years after Auenbrugger first published.

English translation by J. Forbes, 1824 (reprinted in Willius and Keys, Cardiac classics, 1941., pp. 193-213); also with introduction by H. E. Sigerist, in Bull. Hist. Med., 1936, 4, 373-403. For bibliography of the Inventum novum see P.J. Bishop, Tubercle, 1961, 42, 78. The facsimile reprint by Max Neuburger (Vienna, 1922) includes a facsimile of the original edition, and translations into English, French and German.

Bozzini introduced a speculum in which the idea of illumination and reflection by mirrors was utilized. English translation in Urology, 1974, 3, 119-23. Bozzini published his work in book form, Der Lichtleiter, Weimar, 1807, which is translated in Quart. Bull. Northw. Univ. med. Sch., 1949, 23, 332-54.

Double introduced and applied auscultation (pp. 31 and 186).

This book revolutionized the study of diseases of the chest. Auscultation in the instrumental sense dates from Laennec’s invention of the stethoscope (at first merely a roll of stiff paper) with a view to amplifying the sound of the heart’s action. The work illustrates Laennec's wooden stethoscope, which could be purchased from the publishers, and which was advertised for sale on the original printed wrappers of the first edition. Laennec's first wooden stethoscope was in two parts; later he invented a three-part stethoscope.

Laennec was considered the greatest teacher of his time on tuberculosis. Indeed, it was in elaboration of his investigation of the disease that he invented the stethoscope. He established that all phthisis is tuberculous, described pneumothorax and distinguished pneumonia from the various kinds of bronchitis and from pleuritis. He described “Laennec’s cirrhosis” – chronic interstitial hepatitis – on p. 368 of Vol. 1.  Laennec died of tuberculosis at the early age of 45. English translation of the first edition by J. Forbes, London, 1821. 

Stokes, famous member of the Irish school of medicine, published the first systematic treatise on the use of the stethoscope – and this before his qualification at Edinburgh. His name is perpetuated in medical literature in connection with “Cheyne–Stokes respiration” and the “Stokes–Adams syndrome.”

Piorry, pioneer of mediate percussion, introduced the percussor and the pleximeter in 1826. He also developed refinements to Laennec’s stethoscope.

Skoda classified the various sounds obtained on percussion according to their musical pitch and tone. “Skoda’s resonance” is an important diagnostic sign in pneumonia and pericardial effusion. Following Skoda’s work, percussion at last gained general acceptance as a diagnostic procedure. Digital facsimile of the 1842 second edition from the Internet Archive at this link. English translation, 1853.

Leared demonstrated a binaural stethoscope at the Great Exhibition, London, 1851. Camman introduced the pattern whose main design continues in use today; this was illustrated in the N.Y. med. Times, Jan. 1855, and reproduced in Lancet, 1856, 1, 398.

One of the first publications on electrodiagnosis.

This work on temperature in disease laid the foundation of modern knowledge regarding clinical thermometry. Wunderlich reportedly took over a million measurements from 25,000 people. Temperatures ranged from 97.2 to 99.5, and the mean normal human body temperature was 98.6. Wunderlich also established 100.4 degrees as “probably febrile.” Garrison said of Wunderlich that he “found fever a disease and left it a symptom.” The New Sydenham Society published an English translation, On the temperature in diseases: A manual of medical mhermometry, in 1871.

Allbutt introduced the modern clinical thermometer.

An encyclopedic work that described illustrated and analysed the entire range of instrumentation employed in medical and surgical practice at the end of the 19th century. Reprinted with introduction by James M. Edmonson: San Francisco, Norman Publishing, 1988.

First tomogram of soft tissue.

Donald, J. MacVicar and T. G. Brown used an ultrasound scanner to investigate the pregnant abdomen (see also No. 6235.1).

Not limited to the obstetric forceps.

Well-illustrated work coving the history of medical and surgical instruments from the Middle Ages to 1870, with emphasis on pre-19th century material. Includes useful information on instrument makers.

Digital facsimile from Smithsonian Research Online at this link.

Some of the articles in this work include historical references, useful for the recent history of this rapidly evolving field.

The discovery of x rays, which Kölliker later renamed “Roentgen rays”; the foundation stone of the science of roentgenology. English translation in Nature, (February,) 1896, 53, 274 and 377. See also Röntgen’s third paper on the subject: Weitere Beobachtungen über die Eigenschaften der X-Strahlen. Sitzber. K. Preuss. Akad. Wiss., Ber., Kl. Phys.-Math., 1897, 576-592. Facsimile reprint of all three papers, English translation, and bibliography in H. Klickstein, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen on a new kind of rays. A bibliographical study, 2 vols., 1966.

In 1901 Röntgen was awarded the first Nobel Prize in Physics "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by the discovery of the remarkable rays subsequently named after him."

This was probably the first published report of the clinical use of x rays (February 22).

First clinical application in America, published in March, 1896.

The discovery of radioactivity – research stimulated by Roentgen’s discovery of x rays. 

In 1903 Becquerel received half of the Nobel Prize in Physics 1903 "in recognition of the extraordinary services he has rendered by his discovery of spontaneous radioactivity." The half was awarded to Pierre Curie and Marie Curie, née Skłodowska "in recognition of the extraordinary services they have rendered by their joint researches on the radiation phenomena discovered by Professor Henri Becquerel."

First dental radiography in America.

Introduction of the intensifying screen.

Invention of the Roentgen stereoscope.

Estimation of heart size by fluoroscope, first application of x rays to cardiology.

Macintyre was the first to demonstrate x-ray cinematography.

Cannon introduced the bismuth meal. He showed that bismuth, opaque to x rays, could be of great use in conjunction with roentgenology in the investigation of the digestive tract. See No. 1029.

The Spanish-American War was the first war in which X rays were used for diagnostic purposes. This is the first report on the application of X rays in military medicine. Digital facsimile from the Internet Archive at this link.

Because of rapid developments in this field Williams put this book through three editions, in 1901, 1902, and 1903. Digital facsimile of the 1901 first edition from the Wellcome Collection at this link, of the 1902 second edition from the Internet Archive at this link, and of the 1903 third edition from the Wellcome Collection at this link.

Holzknecht did important work on x-ray dosimetry.

Albers-Schönberg invented the compression diaphragm, the function of which is to intensify the object by cutting out secondary rays.

Groedel invented the first machine for taking serial x-rays.

Bucky devised a diaphragm for roentgenography which, by preventing the secondary rays from reaching the plate, secured better contrast and definition.

Coolidge invented the high vacuum tube, capable of kilovoltage energies.

Moving grid. "Bucky-Potter grid" invented by Gustav Bucky and improved by radiologist Hollis E. Potter.

Positive contrast myelography with iodized oil (lipiodol). This paper records the first use of lipiodol in radiology.

Thorium dioxide (“thorotrast”) first used in radiological diagnosis.

Introduction of roentgen kymography.

Camera used for direct Roentgen-cinematography.

Tomography first described.

Grossmann's tomograph was able to image a single slice through the body. He was influential in establishing the word "tomographie" in its radiological context.