Lot 209: X-RAYS. WILLIAMS, FRANCIS H. 1852-1936. A method for more fully determining the outline of the heart by means of the fluoroscope together with other uses of this instrument in medicine. Boston: Damrell & Upham, 1896.

X-RAYS.
WILLIAMS, FRANCIS H. 1852-1936. A method for more fully determining the outline of the heart by means of the fluoroscope together with other uses of this instrument in medicine. Boston: Damrell & Upham, 1896. 8vo (195 x 132 mm). 6, [2] pp. Folding plate. Offprint, publisher's printed wrappers.WITH: The Röngten rays in thoracic diseases. [Boston:] 1897. 8vo. 24pp; 8 unnumbered leaves containing 11 photographic figures. Offprint, publisher's printed wrappers. Clean.RARE OFFPRINT, INSCRIBED BY WILLIAMS, CONTAINING "THE FIRST APPLICATION OF X-RAYS TO CARDIOLOGY" (Garrison-Morton 2686.1). Ruth and Edward Brecher devote a chapter to Williams in their book The Rays: A History of Radiology in the United States and Canada, (1969), pp 70-80. They conclude, "A search of the medical literature reveals no one else in the United States or Canada during 1896 who ranked with Francis H. Williams in breadth of radiological experience ... He was the first to bring to radiology the full range of skills which now characterize it, and can therefore properly be cited as 'America's first radiologist.'" With a second 1897 offprint from Williams, this one not inscribed.