The Effect of the Röntgen Rays on Calculi

The great difficulty of distinguishing nephro-lithiasis from many other pathological conditions of the genito-urinary tract ?especially early tubercular disease of the kidney?is well known; but, except in the case reported below, the Rontgen rays have not yet proved of much practical value in the diagnosis of renal calculus.1 It can be, however, only a matter of time; and there is little doubt that a more extended knowledge of the methods now employed will enable us to graphically prove the existence of calculi not only in the kidney, but also in the urinary bladder,2 gall-bladder, and intestine. Meanwhile, it may be profitable to consider the behaviour of calculi outside the body when exposed to the X rays, as Mr. Morris3 has already done to some extent. 1 Lancet, 1896, ii. 1631. 2 Ibid., 1897, i. 169. 3 Ibid., 1896, ii. 1367.