Locating a Bullet with an X-ray Machine, French Field Hospital, World War I

A vintage science and/or cat's eye glasses photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

Surgeons at a French field hospital during the First World War use an x-ray machine--"the latest and most complete scientific device for saving life," according to the description on the back of this stereographic card--to locate and remove a bullet from a wounded soldier. This image was first published by the Keystone View Company as part of a set of war stereogaphs issued in 1917-18.

See below for the full Locating Bullet with X-ray Machine stereoview card. For additional information regarding the Keystone View Company's World War I stereographic sets, see the The World War through the Stereoscope, a digital collection from the Library of Congress.

18608 - French Field Hospital - Locating Bullet with X-Ray Machine

Excerpt from the description on the back of the card:

Before us surgeons are using the x-ray to locate the bullet in a wounded soldier. His life depends upon finding it promptly and with little probing. For this the x-ray is invaluable--it projects a shadow of the bullet in the wound. As a further aid in locating the bullet, a mechanism working on the plan of a telephone is used. One end of the circuit is attached to a bell and the other end is fastened to a sliver thread attached to the probe. When the probe touches the bullet the bell rings. Many lives have been saved by this invention, which enables the surgeon to locate the bullet quickly and to extract it through a small orifice.

Notice the tube at the surgeon's ear, leading to the bell on the x-ray apparatus, so that he can hear instantly hear the first faint vibration. Observe the wire bringing the current from the ambulance. We have before us no crude emergency outfit, but the latest and most complete scientific device for saving life.