1206
fi rst time, though at fi rst X-rays received by far the
greater coverage. X-rays appeared to be another method
by which reality could be analysed with a permanent
image as the result. The association was reinforced as
photographers, realising the commercial possibilities,
took up X-ray portraits as a side line. It was not long,
however, before the negative side effects of uncontrolled
use were appreciated.
Wild claims were made initially, for example one in
March 1896 that X-rays were being used to transmit
anatomical diagrams directly into the brains of medical
students. Two months later a young farmer was reported
to have used X-rays as an updated Philosopher’s Stone to
transmute cheap metal into gold. More reasonably, they
were touted as an alternative to vivisection, their non-in-
vasive character contrasting positively with the scalpel.
The temperance movement too felt that they would have
an educative effect by demonstrating the deleterious
physiological effects of alcohol and tobacco.
X-rays also slotted into the discourse around spirit
photography, with their shared emphasis on photo-
graphing the invisible, phenomena that could not be
seen with the naked eye. The early terminology used
to describe X-rays (notably ether and vibrations) was
similar to that used by spiritualists, and the fi gure of Sir
William Crookes, both inventor of the ‘Crookes tube’
that was an essential component in producing X-rays,
and a fi gure strongly associated with Spiritualism, rein-
forced the link. Darget and Baraduc’s thoughtographic
experiments were conducted using a device called a
‘radiographer,’ showing a clear debt to Roentgen. The
ability to see what was otherwise hidden was used to
legitimate the claims of clairvoyants, who maintained
that they did the same.
The medical and metallurgical applications of X-
rays were quickly appreciated, assisted by Roentgen’s
refusal to patent the discovery so that humanity would
benefi t from it. Familiarity with the new technology,
and appreciation of its limitations, soon caused a loss
of interest among the general public. There was also an
increased appreciation of the differences with photog-
raphy during the second half of the decade, and “New
Photography” faded away.
Tom Ruffles
Biography
Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen was born 27 March 1845 in
Lennep, Rhine Province but grew up in the Netherlands.
He obtained his PhD on the properties of gases from
the University of Zurich in 1869. In 1870 he moved
to the University of Würzburg, the fi rst of a number
of academic posts in the next decade. After spells at
Strasbourg, Württemberg and back at Strasbourg, he
took the Chair of physics at Giessen University in 1879.
Würzburg offered him the Directorship of its Physical
Institute in 1888 and he became its rector in 1894. After
a demonstration of X-rays to the Kaiser he was awarded
the Prussian Order of the Crown, Second Class, and was
made an honorary citizen of Lennep. He was appointed
professor of physics at Munich in 1900 and accepted
the fi rst Nobel Prize for physics in 1901. He died of
cancer on 10 February 1923 and was buried with his
wife Anna at Giessen.
See also: Spirit Photography; and Crookes, Sir
William.Further Reading
Crangle, Richard, “Saturday Night at the X-Rays—The Mov-
ing Picture and the ‘New Photography’ in Britain, 1896.” In
Fullerton, John (ed.), Celebrating 1895: The Centenary of
Cinema, Sydney/London: John Libby, 1998.
Chéroux, Clément, “Photographs of Fluids: An Alphabet of In-
visible Rays.” In Chéroux, Clément, Andreas Fischer, Pierre
Apraxine, Denis Canguilhem and Sophie Schmit (eds.), The
Perfect Medium: Photography and the Occult, New Haven/
London, Yale University Press, 2005.
Dam, H. J. W., “The New Marvel in Photography,” McClure’s
Magazine, vol. 6, no. 5, April 1896, 403–415.
Glasser, Otto, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and the Early History of
the Roentgen Rays, London: John Bale, Sons and Danielson
Ltd, 1933.
Grove, Allen W, “Röntgen’s Ghosts: Photography, X-Rays, and
the Victorian Imagination,” Literature and Medicine, vol. 16,
no. 2, Fall 1997, 141–173.
Keller, Corey, “The Naked Truth or the Shadow of Doubt? X-Rays
and the Problematic of Transparency,” Invisible Culture: An
Electronic Journal for Visual Culture (www.rochester.edu/
in_visible_culture/Issue_7/Keller/keller.html), 2004.
Nitske, W. Robert, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen: Discoverer of the X
Ray, Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press, 1971
(reprints the three X-Ray papers and provides a list of all of
Roentgen’s scientifi c papers).
Schedel, Angelika, “An Unprecedented Sensation—Public Reac-
tion to the Discovery of X-rays,” Physics Education, (part of
feature issue on X-ray centenary) vol. 30, no. 6, November
1995, 342–7.
“The Photography of the Invisible,” Quarterly Review, vol. 183,
no. 366, April 1896, 496–507.
Trowbridge, John, “The New Photography by Cathode Rays,”
Scribner’s Magazine, vol. 19, no. 4, April 1896, 501–506.ROLL FILM
From the early 1850s, experimenters had been looking
for an alternative to glass as a support for light-sensitive
emulsions. The weight and bulk of glass plates added
greatly to the photographer’s burden, added to which, of
course, was the constant danger of breakages. Talbot’s
caloytpe process had shown that paper could be used
satisfactorily as a negative support. Paper could be used
either in sheet form or as a long band. The fi rst practical
proposal to use a band, rather than a sheet, of sensitised
paper came in a British patent of 1854 by Joseph Blakey