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Some experiments upon the biological effects of fast neutrons

The Mount Vernon Hospital and Radium Institute, Northwood, Middlesex

F. G. Spear

The Strangeways Laboratory, Cambridge

This excerpt was created in the absence of an abstract.

The spatial distribution of ions in a medium traversed by neutrons is markedly different from that resulting from ionisation by rays or X rays. This fact has led a number workers to study the biological effects of neutrons, especially in relation to the effects produced the better-known ionising agents, in the hope that any differences which were found might provide a clue to the understanding of the general problem of the biological action ionising radiations. The experiments have also had certain more immediate practical objectives. Fast neutrons have a power of penetration through soft tissue comparable with that of hard X rays, so that marked differences in the nature of the response of normal and neoplastic tissue might be used to advantage in cancer therapy. Furthermore, the development of increasingly powerful neutron sources biologically equivalent to perhaps a kilogramme of radium has made the study of the biological effects of these rays important from the point of view of the protection of the workers.