OCR Text |
Show CAN TURN NEGROES WHITE. X-Rny Drives Color F'om Skin, and Blacks May Tr?ke Tieatment. To change the hue of a negro to make a A'hlte man out of a black one-has one-has always been reckoned among , the world's Impossibilities, but a recent dls-covery dls-covery at the University of Pennsyl-vanla Pennsyl-vanla shows that the transformation Is perfectly feasible and that the blackest Ekln can be mnde white through the ag. ncy of the wonderful X-ray The discovery was made- Incidentally while negroes were being treated with the rays for cancer und lupus, and although al-though no attempt has leon made to try the efTcet of the light upon the skin of a healthy negro, e-t there Is no reason to doubt that the rays could be employed for the sole purpose of whitening the skin, and that before long some one will hang out the sign, "Complexions Bleached to any Desired Shade." Dr. H. K Pancoast the skiographer of the university hospital, noticed that after negroes had been treated for some time with the- rays the skin became gradually whiter, and that after a long time the surface became perfectly white In every place that the light touched The condition is apparently permanent, for some Of the negroe have not been treated for many months, yet the skin remains as white as after the last treatment. treat-ment. A typical case Is detailed. The negro and a very black one he is, has been treated for lupus for nearly a year, and II 1 an 1' E n that part of his nose and part of the forehead are eiuitc white 'i In parts are the only ones that have been subjected to the X-ray, the remainder re-mainder of the face having been always cove-red wlih foil during treatment The white colored skin Is exactly like that of an ordinary white man and presents a perfectly healthy appearance; it is natural nat-ural skin, but the former coloring has disappeared) because the rays have destroyed de-stroyed the pigment which caused It. The same condition Is met with now and then In negroes' who, though perfectly per-fectly healthy otherwise, have had the coloring cell die out, when white patches appear. The X-ray Is a most IKAverful agent of the destruction, and under its Influence the pigment Is totally destroyed and there Is no power to re-pioduce re-pioduce it, giving the skin a permanent w hltancss. There Is no reason lo believe but that a healthy negro could bo whitened by having the coloring matter bleached fiom his rkln. and the only question is w bother or not the patient would be able to stand the treatment applied n extensively The X-ray will not only destroj the pigment, but. If applied with enough force. It will entirely kill the tissues, tis-sues, and this sort of a burn Is the worst known to medicine. But with a mild application extending over a long space Of time the burns could be avoided. In the cases treated at the university hospital hos-pital there were no burns whatever, und the patients are perfectly healthy. It seems possible to gi. the treatment without Impairing the health of the subi Ject T... Dtn. .-.. wl.'.lo r .1 i,i I I I I .. n. th.. t,.t that the .--kiri la made white by the rays, did noi eaio- to discuss the dermatologl- ai side of th- discovery. He said " have found in the cases of negroes treated for otic i and lupus that the ."kin Is made white under the rays, and the change :-.nis to be permanent, for the pigment Is destroyed. There is no reason why a healthy negro should not be made white as well as an affected one. but s-uch ail experiment would be decidedly out of the professional line, and I must leave the test to some quack doctor. It would be rather a foolish proceeding, and one of some danger, but I suppose that it would be done If any on cared r try u In my case the X-ray has been applied rather gently and not very often, and the i hange in the color of the skin has be-tn gradual." Tin- possibilities, if the discovery be not fraught with danger, are umazlng to contemplate. Face specialists would be sure lo take up the subject and so devilop 't tnat th" oji. ration iould be rformed with perfect safety The ap-pl! ap-pl! atlon would not at all be confined to negroes, but the face "bleach" that is now used on many women w 1th more or ii sr. harmful results, might be none away with and the rays of the Roentgen light employed to banish the objectionable objection-able sallow or dusky complexions. Tin- iicxi sl i w III i' for nmi one fb find a way that kinky hah can be mad-straight, mad-straight, and then It will be- f-lmply a mattei of dollars with any negro who may desire to become a "real" white person Philadelphia Record. |