Photo of the day, March 18

The record doesn't have a day on it, so I'm claiming it for today.

Obertheil einer agyptischen Katzenmumie aus dem stadtischen historischen Museum zu Frankfurt a. M. [?] From: Glasser, O. [Otto?] Wilhelm C. Roentgen. London, 1933. Figure: 82. p. 347. Roentgen picture of a cat mummy, March 1896. Made by W. Konig March 1896.

Letter of the Day: March 6 (2 of 2)

Curatorial Records: Numbered Correspondence 1315

Washington, March 6, 1896

My dear Doctor:-

I hardly think it worth while to purchase a new Ruhmkoff coil for the purpose of making experiments with the Roentgen rays. Very active experimental work is going on in different parts of the country and it is not probably that any experiments that you would find time to make would add anything of importance to our knowledge of these rays and their practical application in medicine. I judge that neither yourself nor anyone else at the Museum competent to make such experiments has the time for original research work, and it is hardly worth while to experiment simply for the purpose of verifying that is done by others. Later, when the exact practical value of photography by these rays has been determined, we may want the necessary apparatus in order to assist in the diagnosis of cases occurring in the District, to which the new method may be applicable.

Have you seen the last number of the American Journal of the Medical Sciences containing a number of photographs and an account of experiments which have been made in Philadelphia?

Very truly yours,

Geo. M. Sternbertg

Lieut. Col. D. L. Huntington,
Deputy Surgeon General, U.S. Army
Washington, D.C.

New upload to the Internet Archive

Today we uploaded a new item to the Internet Archive. It's "A Guide for Uniform Industrial Hygiene Codes or Regulations for the Use of Fluoroscopic Shoe Fitting Devices," by The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists.

It sounds kind of boring. All right, it sounds really boring, but when you read it you have to say to yourself, "what were they thinking?" It's self-described as a guide "designed to minimize the amount of radiation to which persons are exposed during the use of fluoroscopic shoe fitting devices." In other words, shoe stores had x-ray machines that you stuck your feet in (and our museum has one of them (the machine, not the feet)) to see how well your shoes fit. I dunno, when I was a kid the salesman used to press down on the toe of the new prospective shoes and ask if I could feel it.

Anyway, you can see this guide here.