| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Book review |
John Calder has performed a great service to radiology in writing this book.
Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays towards the end of 1895. Röntgen sent a copy of his paper to Lord Kelvin in Glasgow and it was passed to his brother-in-law who brought it to the attention of Dr John Macintyre and Lord Blythswood. John Macintyre had been appointed as Medical Electrician to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary in 1895. On the 5th of February 1896 J T Bottomley, Lord Blythswood and Dr John Macintyre gave a presentation to the Philosophical Society of Glasgow on the new Röntgen Rays. In March 1896 Macintyre obtained the permission from the managers of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary to start a new X-ray branch of his electrical department. This became the first department in the world to provide a service to patients. There were many innovations in this new department including a remarkable cine film of a moving frog's leg. Dr Calder quotes Silvanus Thompson who in his Presidential Address to the newly formed Röntgen Society (the predecessor of the British Institute of Radiology) in 1897 saying that Dr Macintyre of Glasgow "was one of earliest and most successful practitioners of the new art."
Of the early radioogists the names of Dawson Turner of Edinburgh and George Pirie of Dundee deserve special mention. The story of George Pirie is interesting. Pirie was appointed Honorary Medical Electrician to Dundee in 1896 and took his first X-ray in 1897. The problems that Pirie had before the First World War are similar to our own today, that is, how can the resources of our departments keep pace with increasing clinical needs? In 1913 Pirie wrote to radiologsts in the UK in charge of departments requesting factual help and the surviving letters give a fascinating snapshot of conditions at the time. Pirie defined the needs of his department and in particular itemized new and adequate apparatus, a trained electrical mechanic (electrical engineer), a nurse, a senior resident and beds. Sadly Pirie suffered from over-exposure to X-rays and as a result died in 1929. He is one of seven Scottish names on the memorial in Hamburg to the victims of excessive X-ray exposure.
From such beginnings radiology in Scotland flourished. With such a rich history only a few further names can be highlighted. We have Sir George Beatson and the development of cancer services in Edinburgh, Ian Donald and the development of ultrasound in Glasgow and John Mallard and magnetic resonance imaging in Aberdeen.
We are not isolated individuals living in the present and facing an unknown future. We have a past that has shaped and formed the present and knowledge of the past gives a sense of meaning and purpose. The preservation of the past does not happen automatically and needs to be worked upon. As the French thinker Simone Weil said, "the past once destroyed never returns. The destruction of the past is perhaps the greatest of all crimes. Today the preservation of what little of it remains ought to become almost an obsession." John Calder has given us an excellent account of radiology in Scotland and many areas would benefit from a more detailed exploration. In particular a detailed account of the life and work of Ian Donald or Dawson Turner would be fertile areas for research.
This book should be sought by anyone with even the slightest interest in the fascinating story of our profession of radiology.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| BJR | DMFR | IMAGING | ALL BIR JOURNALS |
