Early X-Ray

What are these black dots? 🩻 ⚫️ See one of the earliest medical X-rays in our collections with curator Joel.

[saturatedodin]

For being that unlucky he seems to have gotten pretty lucky.

[stevep]

As crazy as it sounds, in the early 1960s there was a shoe store with a fluoroscope you stuck your foot in and could see how your toes fit the shoes you were trying on!

[im_clearly_a_fool_but_]

Amazing that the bones seem to be wholly in tact. Not that I would know, it just looks quite normal aside from the pellets.

[michelehemlokhexwhite]

Fun fact: fluoroscopy, cardio-echograms and quite a few other early diagnostics were first tested on sword-swallowers (I know this as I'm a sword-swallower). And isolletes (baby incubators) were first displayed at Coney Island, which was instrumental in that doctor convincing the medical establishment they had value in preserving the lives of sick and premature babies.

[kj]

That bird shot "peppered" him up as they say.

[zacball]

“You can imagine what his hand looked like after being shot at close range” you said it was a shot gun at close range and I’m seeing a WHOLE hand still attached with no breaks

[SubVet]

I’m amazed at the clarity and depth of the image! Looks better than any image I’ve ever had done on me

[logvoid]

First xray got a better medical history available decades later than most patients nowadays 💀

[teytreet]

Interesting spread for "close range".

[vesa]

Impressive how intact the bones appear! Would have expected more shattered bones.

[bobquigley]

There's no way he shot himself with a shotgun. He would have to be several feet away from the muzzle for the pattern to have opened up like that. Up to three or four feet away it would have blown a large hole through his hand, bones and all.

[sweetteashark]

The fact that early X-rays look better than modern

[doomaster]

Looks cleaner and easier to see than with current pictures

[brazenhammer]

this is absolutely amazing I remember finding x-ray sheets from the late 1800s early 1900s from an abandoned mining facility many years back and they struck me as something that I didn't think they would have back then

[DavePryor]

One of the earliest x-rays that was used for medical purposes? But never provided the date of said xray. SOOO INFORMATIVE

[SirUncleDolan]

Imagine seeing the image develop for the first time. Seeing every single piece of (what appears to be) birdshot, and in focus!

[CaptJackHarlock]

Mann that is one handy x-ray, it did a hands off job

[DavePryor]

One of the earliest x-rays used for modern medical purposes? But never provided the date of said xray. SOOO INFORMATIVE

[Seakayes]

Bones are looking pretty good for being shot at close range, especially when you consider a lot of the shotguns used during this time were even more powerful than our 12 gauges today. Would love to know more

[timmycrw]

The late Rocky Bleier, A stand out running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, almost never had an NFL career because the army medics during his Vietnam days failed to find some pieces of shrapnel that were left in his foot after he was wounded by a grenade in Vietnam. When he tried to enter the NFL he was still having pain in his foot. Doctors did an x-ray on his foot to see that the arm medics failed to remove some pieces of shrapnel. Once it was removed, the rest is history. A good x-ray is invaluable😊😊