From

Earlier

Pages

...

wise old Roentgenologist Was sailing o’er the sea; He looked a sorry Pessimist, As ill as he could be. He muttered with a bitter laugh, As to the nail he hied, “I need no silly radiograph To show me my inside!” [1]

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This

ephemeral stanza appeared in our Journal in April and it was not an isolated item. Obviously, the character and content of the Journal have changed since early issues, when poetry appeared from time to time. The first volume of the American Journal of Roentgenology was printed in 1913. It was developed to serve the needs of a society of about 180 members, to publish the papers which had been presented at their meetings, and to permit exchange of ideas among this small membership. The predecessor of the Journal, the American Quarterly of Roentgenology, had more limited functions. The new Journal was a monthly publication, and the expansion required a considerable increase in material. Some of the growing pains were evident. The entire first issue was a memorial to a prominent member of the Society, Charles Lester Leonard. This issue began with a full-page, somber poetic elegy in his praise. The remainden of the issue was devoted to a report by Dr. Leonard describing examination of the gastrointestinal tract with x-rays, and it concluded with a long bibliography of his writings. The second issue was in the format with which we have become familiar: original articles, editorials, news and notes, and abstracts of the current literature. Nevertheless, the editor included much material which he knew would interest the small, closely knit membership. Poetry was frequently published. In 1914 there was a fullpage anonymous parody of Andrew Lang’s poem Pen and Ink” [2]. A closely spaced 2 page series of three poems by Caroline Bartlett Crane, wife of A. W. Crane, president of the Society in 1916, memorialized a dinner given by her at their home in Kalamazoo [3]. The poem named many of the prominent radiologist-guests, and apologized to those omitted because of the strictures of rhyme and meter. In August 1918, there was a full-page untranslated poem in ungrammatical French describing the training of x-ray technicians in France during the war [4]. Some of the language is not in cultured use, and the absence of a translation may have been in the interests of delicacy. The informality of the entire publication is indicated by the inclusion of a poem by 1 2-year-old Helen Ashbury in 1920 [5]. (A young Baltimore radiologist, H. E. Ashbury, is included in the formal photograph of the 12th annual meeting of the ARRS in Richmond,

contributors to the Journal in 1914 did not consider themselves pioneers. Dr. Lewis Gregory Cole in a discussion of the value of the negative examination [7] was able to write “In the early days of Roentgenology, I well remember and to contrast that with his present time, November 1914! Gradually, with increase in size of the membership, there occurred some loss of the informal intimacy of the members, and, no doubt, some sense of self-awareness developed. The poetry, and the doggerel, gradually disappeared. Although the Journal adopted, and maintamed, a more serious mein, befitting its purpose, even then the fine arts were not entirely neglected, but took a somewhat more appropriate form. For several years a spokesman for the city which was to host the annual meeting was permitted the excess of hyperbole, orotundity, and euphuism in his invitation to the membership. This invitation appeared as an editorial several months before the meeting. These sometimes florid presentations included photographs of the countryside surrounding the host city, and these illustrations were frequently strikingly picturesque. There were photographs of craggy mountain vistas around Chattanooga [8], waterfalls near Minneapolis [9], architecture in Minneapolis and Washington [10]. A remarkable, cigar-smoking anglen appeared, unaccountably, in two poses, one with a boat background [1 1 ] and another in a lake forest scene [9], and in both he proudly displayed the same string of nine immense lake trout. The Journal has continued to adapt with the times. The enticement to attend the meetings is now in the form of quality of information rather than geography. With the impressive growth in the circulation of the Journal, the membership has become a relatively much smaller part of the readership, and thus the responsibility is of a different nature, and to readers with a more catholic outlook. Rather than including poetry, the Journal must be a repository for organized, collected information as well as a means of recording announcements of work presenting the leading edge of radiology, such as the papers given at the annual meetings. In his presidential address of 1970 [12], John F. Roach pointed out that the Society nests on two pillars: the Journal and the educational experiences afforded by the annual meetings. These continue to complement each other. E. Frederick Lang

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PAGES

3. Crane CB: Poems written by Caroline Bartlett Crane for a dinner given at her home to a number of visiting roentgenologists. Am Quart Roentgenol 4 : 237-238, 1913 4. Anonymous: Premieres impressions dun #{233}l#{232}ve manipulateur.AmJRoentgenol 5:388, 1918 5. Ashbuny H: X-ray. Am J Roentgenol 7 :484, 1920 6. Gnigg ERN: The Trail of the Invisible Light. Springfield, Ill, Thomas, 1963, pp 201 -202

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From earlier pages--the American Journal of Roentgenology.

From Earlier Pages ... wise old Roentgenologist Was sailing o’er the sea; He looked a sorry Pessimist, As ill as he could be. He muttered with a b...
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